John Walsh
b. 1954, Aotearoa New Zealand
Lives in Wellington
Over the course of his career, John Walsh has built a reputation as one of the leading contemporary painters in Aotearoa. Of Te Aitanga a Hauiti and Irish ancestry, Walsh is known for his stylised figurative paintings, which often depict scenes or characters from myths and legends of East Coast Māori. His work often employs layers of thin washes and scumbling in a palette frequently dominated by blue and green tones.
Born in Tolaga Bay in New Zealand’s North Island, John Walsh spent much of his early days in the Gisborne region before travelling to Christchurch where he attended Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University between 1973 and 1974. He later returned to the East Coast where he specialised in portraiture. From the mid 70’s he worked on Marae restoration and related art projects before taking up teaching and curatorial positions.
In the catalogue for a 2001 exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki titled, Purangiaho: Seeing Clearly, curator Ngahiraka Mason described Walsh’s images as, “surreal images of intriguing figures…a cast of creatures who look only part human appear in transit between this world and the next. Their means of transport is a floating futuristic helix with underworld tones while the characters […] play out the dramas of life, love, and lore.”
Significant exhibitions of Walsh’s work include, a major survey titled Matakite at Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua in 2016; Flying Solo, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, 2009; Purangiaho – Seeing Clearly, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, 2001 and Parihaka – the Art of Passive Resistance, City Gallery, Wellington, 2001. In 2015 Walsh was selected to travel to Gallipoli alongside other Australasian artists, to produce work for the touring exhibition Your friend the Enemy. His works are included in numerous collections nationally and internationally, including Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, and the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Noumea.
Gow Langsford Gallery has represented John Walsh since 2001.
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The Dark and The Light
John Walsh 14 - 31 Jul 2021Gow Langsford Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Wellington based painter John Walsh.Read more -
Mercurial
John Walsh 20 Mar - 13 Apr 2019Mercurial, the title of John Walsh’s new exhibition at Gow Langsford Gallery, is to be in a continuous state of change and evolution. Deriving from the Latin mercuriālis, it is also associated with the Roman God Mercury, the messenger, who serves as the guide to the underworld and is, perhaps, related to Manaia and Marakihau the messengers of our Ao Maori (Maori world view). The ethereal ecosystems of Walsh’s paintings might also be mercurial in nature, traversing a fluid truth between myth and reality where figures emerge from familiar yet uncertain landscapes with beings and creatures constantly morphing. Walsh’s mixed Aitanga-a-Hauiti and New Zealand Irish ancestry has long informed his practice, frequently combining Maori oral histories and cosmology with their European counterparts to express the constant negotiation between cultures and their environment.Read more -
John Walsh
18 Oct - 11 Nov 2017 Auckland CityIn John Walsh’s recent body of works, we are transported to a realm in which spirits and humans co-exist. Time and space overlap as contemporary beings mix with ethereal suggestions of what might lay beyond. With mixed Aitanga a Hauiti and New Zealand Irish Heritage, Walsh’s ancestors voyaged across oceans on their immense journey to Aotearoa. The navigation of the Pacific was a profound feat, through which Walsh finds inspiration for how we might navigate the future. He writes of the “evolving culture that had to be patient, resourceful, inventive, prepared to drop truths and beliefs… embracing a measured love, fear, respect and exhilaration of venturing into the uncertain.”Read more -
Gallipoli
John Walsh 29 Apr - 23 May 2015 Auckland CityMarking the centenary of the World War I Gallipoli campaign, last April painter John Walsh joined a group of artists on a journey to Gallipoli Peninsula to make work towards the exhibition entitled Your Friend the Enemy which will travel Australasia in the coming year. On this trip Walsh was drawn to the personal, often untold, narratives of men at war.Read more -
Recent Paintings
John Walsh 12 Jun - 6 Jul 2013 Lorne Street [2008 - 2021]In London, 1818, two young Maori chefs, Tui and Titiri, produced some of the earliest Maori naturalistic drawings, in the form of ink sketches of war canoes. In this exhibition...Read more -
I Can't Stop Loving You
John Walsh 18 Apr - 12 May 2012 Lorne Street [2008 - 2021]Narrative has always played a strong role in John Walsh’s paintings yet his storytelling has never been prescriptive. In this exhibition of new paintings, it is especially elusive as the...Read more
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Spirit of Adventure Trust Charity Auction
November 2, 2023Each year, Gow Langsford lends its support to a worthy cause through an art auction. Raising funds to assist a charity that we believe in...Read more -
John Pule, Laurence Aberhart and John Walsh at New Zealand Maritime Museum
September 1, 2023John Pule, Laurence Aberhart and John Walsh are included in Always Song in the Water at the New Zealand Maritime Museum on until 28 February...Read more -
John Walsh on The Good Oil Podcast
June 15, 2023Wellington based artist John Walsh features on Episode 8 of The Good Oil podcast. It is available to listen on Apple or Spotify .Read more -
ohn Daly-Peoples Reviews John Walsh's The Dark and The Light
July 22, 2021J ohn Daly-Peoples of New Zealand Arts Review has reviewed John Walsh's exhibition 'The Dark and The Light'. 'With all these works the artist uses...Read more -
Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery
December 5, 2020Gallery artists John Walsh, Reuben Paterson, Darryn George and Chris Heaphy (pictured) are all included in Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, the largest...Read more -
Artists Collaborate with Top Musicians to Raise Money for the Salvation Army
April 10, 2019Seven of our artists, Reuben Paterson , Darryn George , Dick Frizzell , Michael Hight , Max Gimblett , John Walsh and Karl Maughan have...Read more -
John Walsh at Britomart Project Space
March 23, 2019Three early works by John Walsh have been installed at the Britomart Project Space window at 26-28 Customs Street East, Auckland. The works installed from...Read more -
John Walsh's Portrait of Ūawa Tolaga Bay Finally Exhibited in Wellington
November 8, 2018At 27, John Walsh painted the epic 20m long mural Portrait of Ūawa Tolaga Bay which at the time was deemed too radical to ever...Read more
