In this episode, I visit Darryn George at his home and studio in Ōtautahi.

Darryn is of Ngāpuhi descent. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury and a Master of Fine Art from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

His work is held in numerous public and private collections, including The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and The New Zealand High Commission. He has been exhibiting consistently for over 30 years, with work in over 40 group or solo shows, including in major public gallery exhibitions.

He is represented by McLeavey Gallery in Te Whanganui A Tara, PG Gallery 192 in Christchurch and Milford Galleries in Queenstown.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Darryn George Instagram Post for your reference.

In the episode you’ll hear Darryn speak about reconnecting with Maoridom and marae, developing his language through a combination of American minimalist abstract painters, kowhaiwhai patterns and Maori carvers, his willingness to work collaboratively across industries to achieve the best outcome in large scale painting, how his practice is influenced by and explores the intersection of Maori oral, and European written history and some advice from his gallerist Peter McLeavey that he’s never forgotten and still applies.