In the Land : Talking with John Walsh about Painting

Abstract

'We are sitting in John Walsh's studio overlooking Lyall Bay and Cook Strait. A sweeping spirit's-eye view of Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui. A table-tennis table doubles as a work bench and a large white canvas waits, stretched along the wall. The title for many of his exhibitions is simply his name, John Walsh. He is a journeyman; a painter's painter and his imagery is woven into the fabric of who we are. His work delights and challenges, it seduces us into the wonderland of our own backyard and teases us with our history and humanity. The back cover of his children's book Nanny Mango states that, before he was an Art Curator at Te Papa, his work experience included: art tutor, sign-writer, cook, erosion controller, marae renovator, portrait painter, cray-fisherman, and deep-sea fisherman in the Southern Ocean. Immaculate qualifications for a visual magician.'