White Night at Artis Gallery
There exists a photograph from the 1950's, of the British
painter John Blackburn sand painting at Takapuna beach: a telling
image, suggestive of a man whose approach to life is pragmatic and
elemental. It was whilst living in New Zealand during that period
that Blackburn started to find his true direction as an artist; his
first abstract paintings were made in Devonport towards the end of
the decade, and he now exhibits in London's Mayfair. The
return visits he makes to New Zealand each summer with his wife
Maude - herself a New Zealander - are, for both personal and
artistic reasons, 'a kind of homecoming'. Blackburn's 2011
exhibition at Artis Gallery was painted in Mount Maunganui.
12 March, 6pm - midnight.
Artis Gallery, 280 Parnell Road
artis-jgg.co.nz
Image courtesy of Artis gallery: John
Blackburn, White with Green