Nigel Brown b. 1949
Works
-
Nigel Brown2 Cars, 1980Acrylic on board60 x 42 cm (unframed)
64 x 46 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownAh Yes Life, 1984Acrylic on board83 x 118 cm (unframed)
87 x 123 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownAlbatross Thinking, 2024Acrylic on canvas80 x 60 cm
-
Nigel BrownBeware of Magpies Tolaga Bay PTG, 1991Oil on board60 x 80 cm (unframed)
63 x 83 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownBeyond Laingholm, 1985Oil on hardboard88 x 120 cm (unframed)
93 x 125 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownColour of the Night, 2023Watercolour on paper71 x 55 cm (framed)
59.5 x 42 cm (unframed) -
Nigel BrownColour Ruru, 2023Watercolour on paper71 x 55 cm (framed)
59.5 x 42 cm (unframed) -
Nigel BrownCook as Integrity Surrounded by Bastards, 2014Oil on linen80 x 60 cm (unframed)
85 x 65 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownGeorge Louie Ponga, 2012Oil & acrylic on canvas80 x 60 cm
-
Nigel BrownLast the Distance, 2024Acrylic on canvas80 x 60 cm (unframed)
83 x 63 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownLetter to Paul Gauguin From Vincent Rainbow, 1995Oil on canvas90 x 60 cm (unframed)
99 x 69 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownLovely Nice Self, 2012Oil on canvas90 x 60 cm (unframed)
93 x 63 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownMarae in the City, 1988Oil on hardboard79 x 117 cm (unframed)
84 x 122 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownNatural Erosion, 1990Oil on hardboard70 x 110 cm (unframed)
75 x 115 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownNature Nature Me Too, 2018Acrylic on canvas40.5 x 60.5 cm (unframed)
43.5 x 64.5 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownNature Origin, 2025Acrylic on canvas25 x 20 cm
32 x 27 cm framed -
Nigel BrownOne Tree Hill Across the Manukau Orange Version 1973, 1973Acrylic on hardboard80 x 120 cm (unframed)
86 x 127 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownStrangers and Journeys, 2024Acrylic on ply cut-out96 x 66 cm
-
Nigel BrownVan Gogh Variation, 1985Oil on board29.5 x 29 cm (unframed)
34 x 33.5 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownWhite Colonial White Kōtuku, 2024Acrylic & glitter on canvas80 x 60 cm (unframed)
83 x 63 cm (framed) -
Nigel BrownTuatara Man, 2015Acrylic on linen790 x 590 mm
-
Nigel Brown3 Nights of Passion, 2024acrylic on canvas45 x 35 cm
-
Nigel BrownMangrove, 2016Acrylic on ply78 x 59 cm
-
Nigel BrownNo. 8 Wire, 2024Acrylic on Birch plywood95 x 54 cm
-
Nigel BrownMaternity, 2022Acrylic on Birch plywood37.5 x 55 cm
-
Nigel BrownHuia Rising, 2023Watercolour on paper59.5 x 42 cm
-
Nigel BrownLand Wars, 2023Acrylic on Birch plywood71 x 49 cm
-
Nigel BrownPodocarp, 2023Acrylic on Birch plywood71 x 49 cm
-
Nigel BrownSinglet Men, Otepoti, 2023Watercolour on paper59.5 x 42 cm
-
Nigel BrownAvian Rising, 2022Acrylic on canvas30.5 x 22.5 cm
-
Nigel BrownGains & Losses, 2022Acrylic on Birch plywood71 x 49 cm
-
Nigel BrownNZ Climate, 2022Watercolour pen & acrylic on paper30 x 42 cm
-
Nigel BrownOwls May Cry, 2022Watercolour on paper42 x 29.5 cm
-
Nigel BrownSkipping Rope, 2022Acrylic on canvas45.5 x 36 cm
-
Nigel BrownWhio (Blue Ducks), 2022Mixed media with water colour pen29.5 x 42 cm
-
Nigel BrownMan Woman Child, 2021Acrylic on canvas60 x 40 cm
-
Nigel BrownNature of Change , 2020-2021Acrylic on canvas135 x 80 cm
-
Nigel BrownPlanet Balancer, 2020-2021Acrylic on canvas80 x 60 cm
-
Nigel BrownDisruption Garden, 2020Mixed media on ply59 x 121 cm
-
Nigel BrownProtective Dance, 2020Acrylic on ply59.5 x 121 cm
-
Nigel BrownTable with Cook + Covid, 2020Acrylic on paper59 x 42 cm
-
Nigel BrownThe Hand that Rocks, 2006Acrylic on board78.5 x 59 cm
-
Nigel BrownWithout Colour Bias I, 2020Acrylic on paper30 x 42 cm
-
Nigel BrownSea Protect, 2019Acrylic and beads on canvas134.5 x 80 cm
-
Nigel BrownDogs of Instinct, 2018Acrylic on ply cut out68 x 78 cm
-
Nigel BrownFuture Past, 2017Acrylic on canvas60 x 82 cm
-
Nigel BrownHarbour Cone, 2017Acrylic on canvas60 x 79.5 cm
-
Nigel BrownWater Woman, 2017Acrylic on ply sculpture186 x 46 x 30 cm
-
Nigel BrownKaka, 2016Acrylic on linen81 x 60 cm
-
Nigel BrownPatiki, 2016Acrylic on canvas80 x 59.5 cm
-
Nigel BrownPipi, 2016Acrylic on linen81 x 60 cm
-
Nigel BrownPush on Regardless, 2015Oil & acrylic on linen140 x 120 cm
-
Nigel BrownConversation with Coleridge in the Wild South Yesterday & Tomorrow, 2014Oil on linen80 x 120 cm
-
Nigel BrownSlings and Arrows, 2012-2022Acrylic on canvas80 x 60 cm
-
Nigel BrownOur New Zealand, 2011Acrylic on black arches paper112 x 76 cm
-
Nigel BrownIris for Cosy Nook, 2010Oil on canvas76 x 51 cm
-
Nigel BrownWaterfall Dusky, 2010Oil on canvas74.5 x 59.5 cm
-
Nigel BrownMost Important Thing, 2009Acrylic & oil on canvas56 x 119 cm
-
Nigel BrownAwake and Alive, 2007Oil stick & acrylic on black arches paper77 x 57 cm
-
Nigel BrownSongs of Innocence, 2005Oil on canvas95 x 59 cm
-
Nigel BrownTrust Instinct, 2003Acrylic on board78.5 x 58.5 cm
-
Nigel BrownYour Cutting Edge, 2003Oil on linen88.5 x 58.5 cm
Biography
Nigel Brown has been represented by ARTIS Gallery since 2014.
Over the past forty years, Brown has established a reputation as one of the most important figurative artists in New Zealand. His distinctive visual language uses recurring motifs, stylistic features and symbolic characters, which are strongly grounded in a New Zealand vernacular.
Throughout his career Brown has received numerous awards, including; the QEII Arts Council Grant (1981), Inaugural Artists to Antarctica Award (1998) and in 2004 was awarded the ONZM
for services to painting and printmaking.
Brown enrolled at Elam School of Art in 1968 where he was taught by Pat Hanly, Colin McCahon, Garth Tapper, Greer Twiss and Robert Ellis. McCahon encouraged Brown to pursue his own personal vision and utilize distinct motifs in his work. Brown graduated in 1971 and began his
full time artist career the following year in 1972. He cemented his reputation as an artist in 1977 with his highly acclaimed Lemon Tree series (1977).
Brown has a systematic and workmanlike approach to painting. He works from an initial concept, which is the result of reading and extensive research. Sketches, photographs and other sources are used as a visual back up to develop specifics, leading to works on paper and trial paintings. The artist works from a gesso ground on which he applies a base coat of yellow ochre. The main ideas and words of each work are then sketched in by brush, followed by the initial lines and tones, and the first of five layers or more of paint.
Brown directly and selectively employs history, literature and politics as devices in his artworks. He also uses words in his paintings, a technique that was heavily influenced by the English poet and painter William Blake. At Elam, McCahon suggested that Brown contain his text in a border or boundary, a technique he still employs today.
Exhibitions
-
Nigel Brown
Last the Distance 10 - 30 June 2025Read more -
Aotearoa Art Fair 2024
17 - 22 April 2024Read more -
Aotearoa Art Fair 2023
STAND A5 2 - 5 March 2023ARTIS Gallery returned Aotearoa Art Fair on Thursday 2 - Sunday 5 March at The Cloud on Tāmaki Makaurau Queens Wharf. Located at Booth A5 the Gallery featured two distinct instalments over the course of the Fair. During the opening two days, we exhibited new works from Liam Barr, Nigel Brown, John Edgar, Fatu Feu'u, Hamish Foote, Andy Leleisi'uao, Peter Panyoczki, Ann Robinson, and Terry Stringer.Read more -
Nigel Brown
Cells of Human 23 August - 11 September 2022Long recognised as an expert on 'we Pākehā' and what makes us tick, Nigel Brown has been described as a magpie. And so it is in this exhibition, 'Cells of Human'. As in so many other of his exhibitions he not only draws on a wide range of genres and colours, but focuses on the boundaries we create to manage our world. Film, literature, comics, pop art, occasional echoes of Māori design - all are grist to his mill. He also cross-references himself and others, re-investigates, and revisits, conscious always of the complicated relationship between words, the things they purport to describe, and the visual world of planes, colours and dimensions. Sign, signified, and signifier are interrogated together. He has always been interested in change both in our world and in the past, which is how I first became interested in his work. In this exhibition change is at the forefront.Read more -
MANZ - Medal Art New Zealand
A Place to Stand 30 March - 18 April 2021This 2021 biennial exhibition has thirty-one artists presenting medals and /or small sculptures. A diversity is demonstrated in the works that make up this exhibition and is also reflective of...Read more -
Auckland Art Fair
BOOTH A6 24 - 27 February 2021New Zealand’s premier showcase for contemporary art returned in 2021 from Wednesday 24 – Saturday 27 February at The Cloud on Auckland’s Queens Wharf .Read more -
Nigel Brown
Dog 15 October - 3 November 2019Nigel Brown continues to challenge the viewer on social and environmental issues in this current exhibition. 'The dog was inspired by our black dog - this is how he looks...Read more -
MANZ - Medal Art New Zealand
About Face 19 March - 14 April 2019ARTIS Gallery is the host gallery for Medal Art New Zealand (MANZ) – a group of New Zealand’s leading contemporary sculptors. This 2019 biennial exhibition has thirty-four artists presenting medals...Read more
Publications
