Trio of painters unite for exhibition
This article was originally published in Hawke's Bay Today on 30th January 2024
Opening this coming Monday, February 5th at Hastings Community Art Centre is a landmark exhibition by a trio of Hawke’s Bay painters that promises to be a feast of bold artistic expression and a tribute to the perseverance of three individual artistic visions, crafted over decades.
The artists, Gary Waldrom, John Lancashire and Angus Walker, share an intergenerational camaraderie and appreciation for the distinctive visual languages that each artist has forged. In Waldrom’s case, he’s spent a lifetime living and painting in Waipawa, quietly creating a unique body of large panoramic paintings that are peopled with playful, carnivalesque characters, nestled in the distinctive light and hills of his surrounds. As John Lancashire states “Gary is a hero, a legend. His work speaks locally, but you could position him internationally and it would be just as resonant.”
The admiration is certainly reciprocated. Of Lancashire’s paintings, which are predominantly floral in subject matter, Gary Waldrom says “His works are amazing. I thought it was a subject that had been well thrashed over the years, but he’s brought something to it, and made it his own.” This exhibition will see a number of other approaches and subject matter from Lancashire, new terrain for those already familiar with his work.
As the youngest of the trio, Angus Walker looks up to Waldrom and Lancashire, “They’ve beaten the odds to continue doing what they do. Gary and John’s work is incredible. I’m honored to be in the show with them.” Angus Walker himself is a picture of perseverance. His large, robust works are both gestural and minimal, and their metallic surfaces sometimes throw back a reflection of Walker’s day job working at CHB Meat Processors. As John Lancashire points out “Angus does things that I couldn’t do. He’s really out there. His works are timeless”.
A testament to local artistic endeavor, this exhibition will run from February 5 – 17. As Walker humorously quips “It’s well worth getting out of bed for”.
