Icon2 - Diptych. Acrylic on board +500 x 2200mm  Portrait of Rangitoto 2005

There's a line between art and design - somewhere.
But both begin with conceptual. It took me more than a decade to form the image that became 'redharbourbridge'.
I'd love the responsibility of organising the repaint. Click to go to redharbourbridge.weebly.com
Picture






Even at art school I was a reluctant painter. I loved the process but disliked the scene.
Then I had a burst and produced and exhibited in good galleries in New Zealand and beyond.
I paint rarely now. The best paintings are the result of response and passion - it seems to me.
So here is a random list - and background. Some works are sold. Others remain in my collection and are for sale.

No Right Way Up 1989   Mixed media & 3-dimensional. +1050 x 700. Produced in one session over 4 & 5 June 1989
The background to this work is the English translation of the students' declaration. The motivation came the same day when state crushed the people in Tiananmen Square. And when I looked for inspiration in that day's paper I found instead the glib fabrications of advertising. 'Always gliding doors', billionaires who are 'bashful'. And control.
No Right Way Up is made from the torn drawers from a drafting cabinet. Fixed together with 'Sentinel' wire. Painted and assembled in an 'urgency' of time. I really wanted it to be done. The idea was for it to deteriorate but it's improved over time .
Today it's my favourite painting.



Racing Home 2003 Acrylic on board. +650x1800. Painted during the America's Cup - 'invited artist'.



Below is a collection of other work followed by a biography. Click on images for more detail.
Biographical Details:

Barry (Baz) Read works as an artist/designer. He has exhibited in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Russia and Spain and has works in private and public collections.

Past exhibitions include:
1971: 'NZ Young Contemporaries', Auckland City Art Gallery.
1972: 'B+H Art Award', touring exhibition, NZ.
          'Transition', The Foundry, Auckland.
1973/4: 'New Year - New Works', Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland.
1974: 'Contemporary Drawings', Auckland city Art Gallery.
          'Count Boris de Pollok', (solo), Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland and Waikato Society of Arts, Hamilton.
1975: 'Strange Angels', (solo), Barry Lett Gallery, Waikato Society of Arts and Labyrinth Gallery, Christchurch.
          'Prints and Drawings', McDougall Gallery, Christchurch.
1976: 'Flowers and Wreaths', (solo), Barry Lett Gallery, Auckland.
1982: 'New City - New Work', (solo), Parallax Gallery, London.
1984: '1000 Mexicans - "News of You"', (junk animated music video), BBC 'Whistle Test' and Institute of
           Contemporary Art (ICA) videotheque 'Rock Week', London. ("News of You" and "Art of Love" are both on
           YouTube.)
1986: 'Exterior', (video/art pack), Miro Foundation Cinema and Central University Faculty of Fine Arts, Barcelona.
1989: '01-01', (originals oil and montage on board and then laser-printed). Prints exhibited in St Petersburg, Russia.
1992: 'Art is a Bourgeois Activity', (solo), CoCA Gallery, Christchurch.
1994: 'Exterior', (video re-edit), 3rd Canterbury Short Film Festival, Academy Cinema, Christchurch.
2003: Invited artist for 'Moments of the America's Cup' at the Viaduct Basin, Auckland. Group exhibition at the
           Maritime Museum.
2012: '3-2-1', group drawing exhibition at the Letham Gallery, Auckland.
2013: 'X', group painting exhibition at the Letham Gallery.

Awards:
1972: B+H Art Award finalist.
1993: Olivier Spencer-Bower Drawing Award finalist.
1999: NZ Film and Television Awards finalist.
2002: TVNZ Craft Award.

Bibliography:
'NZ Painting since 1950', Peter Cape.
'Time Out' magazine, London. 1986.
'Urbis' magazine, Winter Edition. 2002.

Contact:
Mobile: +64 276 11 7365
Email: bazread@gmail.com