Nigel Brown Travel to Travel

Opening Thursday 8 December, 6pm

Nigel Brown is an inveterate traveller and observer. This exhibition is based on his overseas travels to Europe, Russia, Japan, the Pacific and Antarctica spanning 30 years. Nigel Brown is acknowledged as a leading narrative artist whose distinctive works use a blend of symbolic and expressionistic approaches to voice deep social concern. Employing history, literature and politics as devices to draw attention to individual and environmental issues Nigel Brown conveys emotional and intuitive sympathy within the confines of the works in an accurate and incisive reading of the human condition.

'Travel can be described as a kind of 'invasion of the mind' by outside influences. I come home with a mind shifted in subtle ways. And from one journey to the next, you are no longer the same.' - Nigel Brown

From historic Russian cities to the expanse of Antarctica - via Europe, Japan and the Pacific - Nigel Brown's artistic response to overseas travel is captured in a new exhibition curated and toured by the Southland Museum and Art Gallery. The 46 works in Travel to Travel come from Nigel Brown and partner Sue McLaughlin's private collection. They include paintings, lithographs, monoprints and one woodcut - featuring 30 years' worth of travel.

The works include art created while travelling (sometimes in trying circumstances, such as Antarctica's sub-zero climate) and also show overseas influences absorbed, discussed and processed in Brown's work back in New Zealand. In some works the exotic and the familiar jostle for attention.

Brown's overseas stints have resulted in significant bodies of work. Travel has been an extension of his New Zealand experience, involving learning new things, deepening appreciation of other societies and embracing the work of certain artists. Sometimes the exposure to new influences has brought a new direction that informs Brown's work for years to come - such as recent paintings that embrace the vibrant colour of German Expressionism.

This is an exciting exhibition, bold and colourful, giving an insight into the influences and inspiration that make Nigel Brown one of New Zealand's most stimulating figurative artists.

Artist's floor talk - Friday 9 December, 10am

Join us for this great opportunity to hear Nigel Brown talk about his travels and his art. Free entry.