Gow Langsford is delighted to announce its representation of the Estate of Philip Clairmont (1949-1984). In Clairmont’s short, but extraordinary career he produced a body of powerful paintings and prints that many consider to be among the finest example of Expressionism in New Zealand. His iconic objects, faces and figures, along with his fractured and transformed domestic interiors became recognised as his own highly individual style, taking the art scene by storm in the 1970s as an enfant terrible with a disruptive kaleidoscopic inner vision.
Clairmont’s early influences include Francisco Goya, Vincent van Gogh and Francis Bacon alongside German Expressionist artists Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Whilst these influences are evident in Clairmont’s treatment of strong colours and distorted forms, he also seemed to emerge fully formed from art school, ready to exhibit his own mature, individual style.
Clairmont graduated with Honours in painting from Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1970, holding his first groundbreaking solo exhibition that same year at Several Arts Gallery in Christchurch. In 1972, he became the youngest artist ever invited to join The Group – the avant-garde and highly influential art association formed in Christchurch in 1927. Aged 23 at the time, this offered Clairmont the opportunity to exhibit alongside many senior New Zealand artists, including Colin McCahon, Pat Hanly, Ralph Hotere, as well as Clairmont’s former teachers Doris Lusk and Rudi Gopas. Clairmont was also influenced by, and had a strong influence on, fellow Christchurch painters Tony Fomison and Allen Maddox. Sometimes referred to as ‘The Three Musketeers’ or ‘The Wild Boys’, they each made their presence unmistakably known during this period.
Characteristic of Expressionist artists, Clairmont wove his personal life and times into his art. As Clairmont once inscribed into his print, “art is my life.” [1] His self-portraits are particularly revealing, often closely scrutinising himself in a mirror in order to paint his own likeness. His works have a rather unsettling, energetic power, immediately recognisable by their vivid yellows, reds and heavy black outlines. With a keen interest in ambiguity, Clairmont worked to create disrupted, emotionally charged and somewhat difficult images through anthropomorphising domestic objects that blend subject, form and colour.
Clairmont’s tragic and untimely death at just 34 years old has had a profound impact on how his works have been read. Though his career was brief, his impact on New Zealand art has been immense and his work continues to hold value, magic and mystery. His work is held in all major public galleries, as well as many prestigious private and corporate collections throughout the country.
Gow Langsford will mount Clairmont’s first solo exhibition in over 30 years. Opening on 23rd September 2025 at our Auckland City gallery, Windows will span the full arc of his brief, intense 12-year career, bringing together a focused body of paintings, drawings, prints, and archival fragments. It will highlight some of Clairmont’s most luminous and lyrical late works, many never before shown publicly, alongside early explorations and related forms.
The Clairmont Estate is managed by the artist’s son Orlando Clairmont and advised by well-known New Zealand art consultant Mary Vavasour and award-winning author Martin Edmond. Orlando states; “Windows marks the first opening of the Clairmont Estate for public view in over three decades. Philip Clairmont was a real rock-star artist back in the day; iconic and iconoclastic and as his son, I’m excited to see how a new generation responds to his work. After 30 years behind closed doors - the windows are finally opening.”
For more information on Philip Clairmont and the upcoming exhibition, please email info@gowlangsfordgallery.co.nz.
[1] Inscribed on the bottom of the Mixed Mulch group exhibition poster, Closet Artists Gallery c.1979
