Lovers & Castaways takes the 1980 book “Contemporary New Zealand Painters” by Jim and Mary Barr as its starting point to focus on the following years of that decade as an important time for art in New Zealand. 

The exhibition brings together over 50 works made in the ‘80s and drawn from the Arts House Trust Collection to consider what concerns were prominent for artists in that decade.

Many of the artists in the exhibition are household names. They include: Gretchen Albrecht, Philippa Blair, Nigel Brown, Gavin Chilcott, Gordon Crook, Julian Dashper, Moyra Elliot, Charlotte Fisher, Tony Fomison, Dick Frizzell, Joan Grehan, Bill Hammond, Philip Heath, Pat Hanly, Christine Hellyar, Louise Henderson, Ralph Hotere, Alexis Hunter, Michael Illingworth, Megan Jenkinson, Emily Karaka, Richard Killeen, Diana Lee Gobbitt, Allen Maddox, Joanna Margaret Paul, Buck Nin, John Reynolds, Michael Smither, Terry Stringer, Marte Szirmay, Alan Taylor, Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Greer Twiss, Jim Vivieaere, Mervyn Williams, Brent Wong and more.

IMAGE: Michael Illingworth, A man and a woman, 1986. Oil on canvas