Denys Watkins Touring Exhibition 2017-2019

About This Project

Bath Street Arts Trust is currently working on a touring survey exhibition of paintings produced over a fourteen year period, 2003-2016, by renowned New Zealand artist, Denys Watkins. Exhibition dates at regional institutions around New Zealand will be announced in the summer of 2016-2017 and it is anticipated that the tour will commence from late 2017. Accompanying the exhibition is a limited edition hardcover monograph on Denys Watkins, published by Bath Street Arts Trust in 2017.

Denys Watkins’ colourful paintings, drawn from impressions of the modern world have long been favoured for their accessible and enigmatic qualities. Following his 2003 Sanskriti Kendra residency in New Delhi, India, Watkins’ work flourished, culminating in a very popular exhibition at The Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland. Subsequent work and exhibitions have further advanced Watkins’ iconic style. In his paintings, fields of colour are typically juxtaposed with abstract forms and occasionally objects drawn from the real world, creating conflicts that combine in each work to create a balanced whole.

About the artist

Denys Watkins lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. He was born in Wellington and received his art education at Wellington School of Design, NZ; Central School of Art and Design, London and Royal College of Art, London. Watkins is one of New Zealand’s most significant visual artists and has been exhibiting for over forty years. He is represented in major public and private collections around New Zealand and Australia and was a senior lecturer at Elam School of Fine Art, The University of Auckland from 1980 to 2011.

Pictured: Denys Watkins, Wisdom and Misconduct, 2012, acrylic on linen, 1200 x 1200mm, private collection