| Geoffrey
Arnold was born in Christchurch
in 1958 and graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts in 1986, where
he
studied painting under Donald Binney and Robert Ellis. He has a passion
for
natural history, especially ornithology and as an active member of the
Ornithological Society of New Zealand has travelled extensively
throughout the
country, including many offlying island sanctuaries and the
sub-Antarctic. He
has previously exhibited at Flagstaff
Gallery while teaching art history and painting at Auckland
Grammar
School. He currently teaches
drawing at Massey
University School of Creative Arts, Albany Campus.
The
works result from a three month sojourn through
the National Parks of the South
Island,
during which time they were begun on paper, in situ, in the tradition
of the
early topographic painters who first recorded the lay of the land. They
were
then resolved and completed upon returning to Auckland.
As
well as the fauna and flora of New
Zealand
are ethnographic
motifs added as a result of numerous visits to the Auckland
Museum
to view the Maori Collection. The
works
reference the petroglyphs (rock drawings) of Canterbury
and the dendroglyphs (carvings on living Karaka trees) of the Moriori
on the Chatham
Islands.
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'Calling the Family' A family of
Riflemen keep in contact, Watercolour on Artistico (Fabriano) paper,
334mm x 230mm, Framed 605 x
495mm, $850 (plus p+p)
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