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My art Exhibitions Influences and interests Other |
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last updated May 28th 2009
The word Grutness comes from a placename in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, which just appealed to me. The Grutness logo shows the Uffington Horse, which also forms part of my signature on paintings. The Uffington Horse is a pre-Roman chalk figure carved in the Cotswold Hills of southern England, equidistant between my childhood home of Croughton and the town of Corsham, home of my maternal ancestry. It probably dates to about 200 BC, although some researchers claim that it is considerably older. Its oddly surrealistic form and elegance of line have long fascinated me. My choice of logo may also have been influenced by its use on an album cover by one of my favourite bands, XTC, who come from nearby Swindon.
I paint almost exclusively in acrylics. My current acrylic work can be roughly divided into three categories:
In other media I have done collages, a mural, photomanipulations, and other computer art. I also do minimalist line drawings of the human figure, and am currently experimenting with combining these with painting. A selection of my work can be sampled by clicking on the links below. Many of the paintings are for sale, mostly from Moray Gallery, Dunedin (townscapes and landscapes), Temple Gallery, Dunedin (portraits), or directly from me. Contact me for details about individual works, or for more information."Tone separation" using slabs of acrylic. Photographs are tinkered with photoshop; the resultant images form the basis of my paintings. I started using this method in late 2001, and have been working mainly in this manner since then. "Drift-netting" - as above, but using pictures found on the 'net, usually either heavily distorted group portraits or closely cropped single portraits. Everything else.
| Art to 2000 | 2003 | 2006 |
| 2001 | 2004 | 2007 |
| 2002 | 2005 | 2008 |
| 2009 | ||
| Computer art and photomanipulations | ||
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My
first solo exhibition, Old land (Seventeen
views of New Zealand), was held from May
7 - 17, 2002, at Satellite Gallery, Dunedin. It contained 18 paintings
- a self portrait and (as the name suggests) seventeen other works.
Many of the paintings exhibited are displayed on this site. An article and a review of this exhibition can be found here. |
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My
second solo exhibition, Driftnetting, was
held from April 5-23, 2004, at Moray Gallery, Dunedin. It contained 25
paintings.
Many of the paintings exhibited are displayed on this site. A review of this exhibition can be found here. |
 |
My
third solo exhibition,
Another Day On Earth,
was
held from March 18-30, 2006, at Moray Gallery, Dunedin. It contained 27
paintings.
Many of the paintings exhibited are displayed on this site. Reviews of this exhibition can be found here. |
 |
My fourth
solo exhibition,
Under the Blue Southern
Skies,
was held from September 22 - October
12, 2007, at Moray Gallery, Dunedin. It contained 16 paintings.
Many of the paintings exhibited are displayed on this site. An article and a review of this exhibition can be found here. |
 |
My
fifth solo exhibition,
The Unguarded Moment,
was
held from May 15-28, 2009, at Temple Gallery, Dunedin. It contains 18 paintings.
Many of the paintings exhibited are displayed on this site. A review of this exhibition can be found here. |
A complete list of all the art exhibitions at which I have had work shown can now be found here.
My influences include those from outside art, and those of other artists. With the former, I have always been interested in aesthetics - even my psychology studies veered in this direction. I also get strong mental images with a lot of music (many of my paintings take their titles from songs). There are strong similarities between my musical and artistic preferences, which I have written about as an overall aesthetic preference elsewhere on this site.
As for my influences from artists and art movements, my interests form a 'bell curve' around the early 20th century, diminishing with distance from that time. I am interested in the Pre-Raphaelite, Symbolist/Decadent, Romantic, Metaphysical, Surrealist, Art Nouveau, Ashcan, Precisionist, Realist, Abstract Expressionist, Pop Art, Op Art, and Stuckist movements. My favourite ten artists would probably be (in no set order) de Chirico, Delvaux, Friedrich, Hopper, Klimt, Knopff, Magritte, Munch, Sage, and Turner. I also admire the work of Bosch, Burne-Jones, (Leonora) Carrington, Close, Ernst, Fini, Giacometti, Giger, Ingres, Kahlo, Kienholz, Klapheck, Mondrian, Picasso, Riley, Rothko, Spilliaert, Tanguy, Varo, Warhol, and Whistler. Of New Zealand artists, I particularly admire Peter Siddall, plus many of my contemporaries in the Dunedin art scene.