John Tarlton and Fred Ellison; Joint Opening Celebration

Join us, as we celebrate the joint opening of John Tarlton's exhibition of new works and Fred Ellison's exhibition 'Multifariosarty' at Creative Arts Napier, 5-7pm on Friday 29 October.
All are welcome!

At the opening we kindly request that you wear a face mask and observe social distancing. Refreshments will be available and all are welcome to attend. We will be monitoring the numbers attending with a maximum of 100 at any one time as per level 2 guidelines.

John Tarlton’s paintings and prints fit outside the norm of traditional figurative and landscape motif found in much of New Zealand painting. He sees himself as a storyteller, whose works are organic in their creation. He doesn’t use sketchbooks to develop his concepts. Instead chooses to start with a single image that takes his fancy and then lets the narrative build from there. The stories grow as he makes connections. Throughout the works humour, pun, and satire are used to titillate the viewers reading.

John Tarlton first exhibited his art in New Zealand in the heady Auckland art scene of the mid-seventies. Since then he has had numerous one man fine art shows in New Zealand, Australia and the United States, as well as pursuing many years of active practice as a lecturer, academic, and art educator. His work is represented in several private collections and the public collections of Te Papa, Auckland City Art Gallery, Rotorua City Art Gallery, Waikato Museum of History and Art, Te Manawa (Museum of Art Science History, Palmerston North), University of Auckland, and the State University of New York at Albany.

A California-born New Zealander, John received degrees in fine art at the undergraduate and graduate levels from the State University of New York at Albany, and also studied for a year with Rudi Gopas, William Sutton and Philip Trusttum at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts (Ilam) in 1972. In addition, he holds a PhD in Vocational Art Education from Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

Tarlton has always intentionally flown somewhat under the radar. To date, he remains what the New Zealand writer Kevin Ireland described in a Listener review as an artist who:

"...has resisted identification with art movements or groups that might have endorsed his reputation... He is very much an individualist-- a virtuoso draftsman, a player of visual games and a wit..." (N.Z. Listener, April 29, 1991).

Read more about John Tarlton on our website.

Fred Ellison has entitled his exhibition ‘Multifariosarty’ due to its wide ranging subject matter and style. He has a playful approach, taking inspiration from British artist David Hockney who works out many of his compositions and plans his method using an Ipad.

Fred embraces technology, and uses his tablet as a tool to explore the many variations and possibilities before he even picks up his brush. The result is an ambiguous mix that plays with perception, leaving the viewer to subjectively unravel the narrative and process.

Fred spent his career as a tour travel operator, taking groups of tourists to exotic places around the world. His time spent visiting every major gallery he encountered on those trips has meant that many of his abstracts and landscapes are reminders of time spent in other parts of the world, inspired by some of the masterpieces he has viewed.

Come by and meet the artists, Friday evening from 5 - 7pm at Creative Arts Napier.