Painter.
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ARTIST STATEMENT I came to New Zealand from England in 1973 and settled in Auckland until December of 2011 when my wife and I moved to Whalers Gate, New Plymouth. The move was motivated in part by a health scare, a reality check on my mortality and a need for a change of lifestyle. Having completed a BA in 1986 with plans to become a teacher I instead embarked on a career as a potter/sculptor. This inevitably led to a massive downturn in the local craft market and I turned to painting in 2003, a passion I had harboured for some time. In 2007 I completed a Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts at Auckland University. I now have a pluralistic approach to my practice, embracing abstract, impressionism and over recent years, a focus on minimalism. My earlier works were sold through art exhibitions in Auckland and Wellington and my work in the latter genre have been placed in both corporate and private collections. My new start in Taranaki is having a profound effect, not only on my thinking processes but also my attitude to what is the correct direction for my work to take. The freedom I have experienced in my recent practice has been invigorating. My abstract expressionist pieces are in part the result of my work on acrylic paint and its ability to be thinned, thickened and generally manipulated, started over a decade ago. This process is obviously ongoing and conjoined with my interest in colour and texture will result in works that hopefully garner a response from you, the viewer. This communication is for me part of the under pinning to the meaning of what I do. Ian Axtell BA. Grad Dip FA. |
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Ian lives at Whalers' Gate, New Plymouth, New Zealand
His minimalist works can be seen at www.mobileart.co.nz
email Ian at artia @ xtra.co.nz (remove spaces)