Justin Summerton SURREALIST IN A DREAMLIKE WORLD
272 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand Tel +64 9 379 4010 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz E X T R A O R D I N A R Y A R T F O R E X T R A O R D I N A R Y P E O P L E 2
Justin Summerton SURREALIST IN A DREAMLIKE WORLD
Born in Wirral, England in 1968, Justin Summerton’s family emigrated to New Zealand in 1972. He is a graduate of Otago University – completing a Bachelor of Commerce in 1987 and Bachelor of Arts in 1993. Since 1992 he has travelled, painted and exhibited his paintings. He began live painting in Central Park, New York, and followed with more street painting in Nice, France. He also painted in California, Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii, and in Liverpool, England. In 1998, being a keen surfer, he based himself in Kare Kare, west Auckland. He is currently based in St Clair, Dunedin. Summerton’s works harnesses the raw energy of New Zealand landforms and coast lines through the texture of his paint. He captures and intensifies this power with layers upon layers of dense oils, culminating in a landscape that is far from traditional, and so referring to New Zealand landscape with a fresh perspective. His latest paintings occupy an arena halfway between representational landscape and surrealist dreamscape. Metamorphosis
Bachelor Pad Oil on canvas 85 x 125cm My idea of the ultimate Kiwi ‘bachelor pad’ coastal hideaway. The view through the window is from the Karekare stream - with Paratatoe island on the left and the point / ‘Watchman’ on the right. i chose a Gordon Walters print for the wall to indicate a bachelor of some taste, and his bed is a rolling landscape to evoke a sense of the owners imagination. Overall i wanted to create a very iconic New Zealand interior/ landscape painting. I have always admired the work of Gordon Walters
Wave Oil on canvas 170 x 170cm I feel a particular affinity with the New Zealand coastline, spending much of my spare time in the water as a competitive surfer
End of season, St Clair Pool Oil on canvas 90 x 102cm I live down the street from the St clair hot salt water pool. It’s such a strong part of the imagry of the locals, an icon ingrained in us. In the autumn they close the pool, drain it, and in time the wind and rain blows leaves and sticks into the swelling puddles. The closed pool always indicated it was time for me to hit the road - so this is a melancholy ‘end of season’ painting for me. As teenagers we used to climb over the old sea wall to get into the pool and watch the waves peeling on the point, there is a legend that a shark was once washed into the pool in a winter storm. The island on the horizon is White island.
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Enlightenment Oil on canvas 100x 126
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Whareakeake II Oil on canvas 122 x 172cm
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Seven hours at Piha Oil on canvas 84 x 104cm One of my Cube compositions - a tool for me to package several views of a place. The landscape on the left is The bar, Nuns rock, the small cube on the floor is north Piha / Caves and the central cube ( right) is iconic Lion Rock. It has been a goal of mine to paint non clichĂŠ paintings of Piha. The first Cube painting I did is owned by Andy Higgs at Piha - and that was 2004 - it went on to be a whole series of works and a couple of shows.
Bedside Table and Lamp Oil on canvas 56 x 66cm
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Enlightenment (Ministry of Silly Walks) Oil on canvas 55.5 x 60.5cm
Matiatia Ladder - The Great Escape Oil on canvas 71 x 91cm The red ladder ascends through the tree and into the shy where it tapers away into space - suggesting a passage to another realm. A ladder as a ‘Jack and the beanstalk’ allegory, has been a motif in my work. This is the third painting of the series. It’s also my entry for this years ‘Sculpture on the Gulf’ Awards, Waiheke ( Henk Haazen has offered to build it, together, in his Waiheke workshop). In my time in Auckland i spent many weekends on the Island with friends and I had a studio there at one time.
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Metamorphosis Oil on canvas 60 x 71cm Idea of the Butterfly and the seaside. When you look out at the sea, after being stuck in the city, you might experience a sensation akin to a metamorphosis of the spirit. A simple idea - i chose gun metal pewter to frame the butterfly shape - to juxtapose against the ethereal sea.
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Supercity Oil on canvas 122 x 155cm
Six Stages of a Sunset - The Passage of Time Oil on canvas 35 x 78.8cm
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Keeping it’s Value Oil on canvas 35 x 78.8cm An Economic Black Hole and a Pile of Gold Bars
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A Return to Volcanic Themes Oil on canvas 55 x 100cm
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Publications: 'Art and New Zealand Today'. Edited by E.M Caughey. Saint publishing 2002. page 106 to 108. 'Creating Waves' by Aaron Topp. 2009 Harper Collins. pages 21 to 37 'Westies - Up front and out there' by Bob Harvey. Exisle publishing, 2004. 'Rolling Thunder - The Spirit of Karekare' by Bob Harvey . Exisle publishing 2003. Exhibitions: Volcanic Cones
Warwick Henderson Gallery January 2002
Interiors
Warwick Henderson Gallery March 2003
New Works
Warwick Henderson Gallery 2005
Beaches and Islands
Warwick Henderson Gallery March 2006
Surrealist in a Dreamlike World
International Art Centre 2012
I dabbled in painting as a student and had two solo shows in Dunedin, the second one at the Carnegie Gallery before heading off overseas. I went to Detroit in 1994 and had a show there and went on to painting ‘on plein air’ in Central Park, NYC, and to Nice in France. Painting became a way to fuel my O.E which kept going and now, eighteen year on, I’m still a full time artist. In 1995 I live in Mendocino , California, and exhibited my photo montage projects and oil on canvas at the International Art Cafe on Haight Ashbury. In 1996 I lived in Sydney and exhibited at a group show in a gallery in Darlinghurst - I also sold a photo montage at an auction of contemporary photography. From 1997 to 99 I was based in Dunedin working on my techniques and basing my work around the st Clair seascape. In 1999 I moved to Auckland - living firstly in Karekare at Bob Harvey’s bach. Justin Summerton In 2002 John Daily Peoples wrote an article for the National Business Review - ‘Justin Summerton’s strange milieu’ ( Feb 1st, NBR 2002). He says “Summerton’s paintings inherit a strange milieu halfway between representational landscape and surrealist dreamscape.......like the early colonial artists he adapts the landscape to his own uses and ideas, nature is controlled by the artist with landscape smoothed out and rearranged. The drama of the paintings is heightened by the artists attention to detail, such as the cloud forms which can be strange sculptural shapes..........shadows and the capturing of eerie and spectacular light are also indications of an artist in control of his medium.........he uses the landscape for symbolic and allegorical purposes.”
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Justin Summerton SURREALIST IN A DREAMLIKE WORLD
272 Parnell Road Auckland New Zealand Tel +64 9 379 4010 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz E X T R A O R D I N A R Y A R T F O R E X T R A O R D I N A R Y P E O P L E
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