Colin McCahon was born in Timaru, New Zealand in 1919 and died in 1987.
During the 1940s McCahon’s work began to include narrative elements and from the 1960s his artistic oeuvre began to be recognised in New Zealand and internationally.
McCahon took the view that “the directness of words and the fusing of words could help, provide a 'way in' to his images.”
A theme throughout much of McCahon's art is his exploration of the religious and some of his landscapes contain a sense of the spiritual.
The title image to this Rejigit article is his 1970 production “Victory over death 2”. It uses synthetic polymer paint on un-stretched canvas, 2075 mm x 5977 mm and sits in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra having been gifted by the New Zealand Government in 1978.
Paul Soper is a New Zealand artist who is one of many who have been inspired by McCahon’s artistic style and his layering of abstraction over figurative technique. Paul’s reflective work is 100cm x 50cm on a stretched canvas over a wooden frame. Chromacryl acrylic paint over base layers of Gesso primer medium.
