Ian Scott produced his first Lattice painting in 1976, and prior to this, had practiced in a representational and figurative manner, his anti-establishment approach saw him depicting self-assured landscapes and barely clad nubile woman that sought to challenge the viewers perception of current art practices.

Part of the modernist movement in New Zealand art during the 1970s, Scott is and was a leading force behind abstraction, seeking a painterly language that did not rely on figurative or literal meaning. Scott's iconic Lattice paintings are perhaps his most significant and an enduring contribution to the development of New Zealand art. Over the following decades, Scott has expanded on the Lattice form as a means of painterly expression. The hard edged geometric abstraction of Ian Scott's Lattice series focuses on the intense interface between colour, line and form within a grid formation. Like an assault of licorice allsorts, flat bands of hightened colour, interwoven with black and white, play optical illusions, the eye is forced to stop and start as it tries to read the length or width of each strip. Of his technique the artist reveals, 'I lay down the bands with masking tape, shifting the width intuitively until it feels right.' He explains 'I paint the colours directly, I never over paint or alter them if something is wrong with the colour or paint thickness or proportion I destroy the work and start again.'

Born in Auckland, 1945, Ian Scott's painting career spans some four decades. He is a major New Zealand artist of the Post McCahon generation who has remained innovative and experimental in his practice. Studying under the tuition of Garth Tapper (1927-1999) at Kelston Boys High School, he won numerous junior art competitions during his youth including a section of the Kelliher Art Prize in 1965. He entered Elam School of Fine Arts at Auckland University in 1964. Scott's art is held in the collections of public galleries and private collections throughout New Zealand. His lattice works have become icons of contemporary painting in this country.

A publication titled 'Ian Scott', was published in 1998 by art critic Warwick Brown.