New work from Martin Poppelwell, Gretchen Albrecht, Denys Watkins & more


Art on Sunday! New work going LIVE tonight: another exciting selection of works including a large print from Martin Poppelwell; a mixed media drawing, and a diptych print from Philippa Blair; a synonymous ovoid print from Gretchen Albrecht; two Animal Cracker prints from Denys Watkins; a tiki print from Dick Frizzell; and a Black Rock print from Michael Smither.

Gretchen Albrecht (1943-) Gretchen Albrecht attended the University of Auckland, School of Fine Arts (Elam) and by the late 1960s, her reputation as an artist of considerable promise had been cemented with her series of colour-stained canvases. Since the 1970s, Albrecht’s work has progressed from these poured acrylic stained canvases into a pair of signature shaped-canvas formats – the hemisphere (half circle) & the oval – where combinations of colour and geometry create images with a ‘clear poetic impulse, in which references to landscape, family and the cosmos act as emotional points of departure’.

Denys Watkins (1945-)

Denys Watkins studied at the School of Design, Wellington Polytechnic (1962 – 64), the Central School of Art, London in 1967 and the Royal College of Art, London (1968 -7). He has received various awards and scholarships and has had residencies in Canberra and India.

His significant career has spanned the last 5 decades. His work is recognisable for the wonderful intensity of layered colour, the texture and the forms which encompass his unique visual language.

Watkins was a senior lecturer at Elam School of Fine Arts Auckland from 1980 – 2011.

Michael Smither (1939-)

New Plymouth born artist, Michael Smither studied art in Auckland at the Elam School of Art. Smither is well known for his iconic boulder-scapes, and his images of the Taranaki landscape.

Philippa Blair (1945 -)

Philippa Blair is a New Zealand-born international artist residing in the USA and NZ. Blair is often referred to as an expressionist, derived from her use of vibrant colours and highly energised surfaces.

Dick Frizzell MNZM (1943-)

Dick Frizzell is one of New Zealand’s most successful and high profile contemporary artists. Frizzell studied art at the Canterbury School of Arts from 1960-1964 and was employed in advertising before moving to Auckland to lecture at Elam School of Fine Arts. Frizzell’s kitsch and often cartoon-like paintings and prints, has created some of this country’s most iconic imagery.

Martin Poppelwell

(1968-) Martin Popplewell began his career by studying at Elam School of Fine Arts in the early 1990’s. From there he moved to Wanganui completing, under tutor Ross Mitchell-Anyon, a Diploma of Ceramic Design and Production at Wanganui Polytechnic.

Rich colour, form, line and text create a unique interpretation of the contemporary world in both his ceramics and paintings. His work is always changing and always provocative.