PROVENANCE
Purchased from Gow Langsford Gallery, 2007, label affixed verso

Darryn George is of Ngāpuhi descent. He connects minimalist abstraction and photographic reproduction which has long influenced New Zealand art. George explores the contrast between glossy photographic images accessible in books and the textural quality of paintings when encountered in real life. He uses abstract patterns that recall the pristine and hard-edged aspect of photographic representations in books, his paintings also include subtleties on the surface such as ridges and wobbly lines differentiating it from photographic reproductions. He primarily envisions his works on computer screens playing around with size, colours, motifs, orientation and texture, adding and amending elements.

The palette for George's works remains strongly connected to Maori heritage. The lineage of abstraction in George's measured geometric compositions is discernable - from Mondrian and the de Stijl movement, through to Peter Halley, Bridget Riley, Sol Lewitt, Donald Judd and New Zealand artist Gordon Walters.