This exhibition aims to explore some of the diversity of the work of Gavin Chilcott. The show includes paintings, drawings, furniture and ceramic works by the Auckland artist, now working intermittently between New Zealand and Australia.
Chilcott attended Elam School of Fine Arts from 1968-70 but did not begin a full time painting career until the late 70s. His work was significantly represented in the ‘New Image: Aspects of Recent New Zealand Art’ exhibition that toured the country in the early 1980s.
His artwork draws from a number of origins; folk art, artists from different periods, furniture makers, popular media and classical styles. These sources are reinterpreted and juxtaposed; regional foundations and autobiographical references are codified and made into a new language by the information filtered and altered within the works.
One aspect that this exhibition will focus on is the newly developing exploration into ceramic decoration. Occasionally this surface decoration has been seen on recently exhibited cut-out standing forms. The decorative inscriptions will now be included on ceramic pieces designed for the artist.
Past and Present will be a unique opportunity to see all facets of this artist’s work together in a single exhibition.
Press
→ Artists a world apart share gallery, New Zealand Herald, 02-11-1989
→ Life gives rise to art, The Settler, 09-11-1989
Ephemera
→ Gavin Chilcott: Past and Present, 1989, exhibition card