Signature blue and green landscapes, often portrayed in the lowlight of day or the deep of night, are John Walsh’s vehicle for a myriad of narratives expressed with humour, wry wit, joy, or concern. These scenes—built from weightless washes of blues and greens, then layered with gestural brushwork in black and dark hues—either subtly-envelop or contrast with the colours of John’s figures, creatures, and forms. Contrasts of rainbow hues, soft pastels, fiery climate-warming oranges, and sumptuous gold dust and leaf work to create dynamic and rich painterly layers. His use of minimal brushwork to create recognisable form and expression are to be revered.
Moving fluidly between culture, politics, and pressing issues of our time, John’s narratives are anchored by these imagined and timeless landscapes drawn on from reality. Often otherworldly and hauntingly beautiful, depictions of myths, legends, and the interstice between the physical and spiritual worlds are usual playgrounds for John’s expression and questioning of identity, belonging, time, space, and place.
John Walsh is a largely self-taught artist who studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, in Ōtautahi Christchurch, between 1973-74. Born in 1954, he is of Aitanga a Hauiti ancestry and Irish/Pākehā descent, growing up in Hauiti, Tolaga Bay, Gisborne, Aotearoa New Zealand.
