Denys Watkins
"Denys luxuriates in the diverse possibilities of paint: applying velvety blocks of pigment to smooth, clay-coated boards; pouring slippery skins of translucent colour over grainy canvases."
Denys Watkins is a contemporary artist. Born in 1945, he lives in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.
Denys is a highly respected contemporary artist with a career spanning five decades. In the early stage of his career, Denys was widely regarded as one of Aotearoa’s finest printmakers, a media since superseded by painting and watercolour. He was a long serving teacher of 31 years at Elam School of Fine Arts in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Denys’ fresh, distinctive and ingenious abstract paintings show a keen fascination and curiosity about the world. Over his career he has drawn on a wide visual encyclopaedia of cultural references, taking source inspiration from any area deemed relevant or necessary to a particular composition or series. These might include abstractions of coral, billowing mushroom clouds, Hindu monkey gods, the tangled roots of orchid plants, or obscure lyrics from songs. Within each painting, these visual stimuli are carefully worked out until a formal balance is achieved. Denys is not content to rest on compositional laurels, playing with the nuances of both symmetry and asymmetry.
As Francis McWhannell note, “Denys luxuriates in the diverse possibilities of paint: applying velvety blocks of pigment to smooth, clay-coated boards; pouring slippery skins of translucent colour over grainy canvases.” His use of colour is particularly adventurous. He pings from a restrained, almost primary palette to one full of complex hues. He can do harmony, but is just as likely to opt for discord to threaten pictorial rupture.
A keen guitarist and avid music fan, his vast and diverse record collection is reflected in the carefully chosen titles of Denys’ works and exhibitions. He is a voracious consumer of culture
Quote by Francis McWhannell, 2017
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Keep searching , 2021
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Little town flirt, 2021
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Arc Angel, 2019
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Beynond the Pale, 2019
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Boom box , 2019
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Glided lilly, 2019
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Gray cooper house , 2019
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Long library, 2019
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Lotus Land, 2019
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Madagascar, 2019
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Mirimar , 2019
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Seatoun, 2019
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Sugar lake, 2019
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The moat walk, 2019
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Valeria, 2019
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Volare, 2019
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Wisteria, 2019
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Fasle gods , 2018-20
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Atomic Future, 2018
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Blue shadows on the trail , 2018
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Crocodopolis, 2018
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Double happy , 2018
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Lemon head , 2018
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Moonlight Drive, 2018
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Shady nook , 2018
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Walk right in , 2018
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Yardbird , 2018
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Another green world, 2017
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Charmer, 2017
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Toot, 2016
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She said, he said, 2015
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The mighty , 2015
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Knossos, 2014
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Perdido, 2014
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Tequila, 2013-2018
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Alanya, 2013
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Limedrop, 2013
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Locomotion, 2013
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Naples, 2013
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Springer, 2013
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Striker, 2013
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Untitled , 2013
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Summer Selection
25 Jan - 11 Feb 2023Jhana Millers reopens for 2023 with a selection of works by gallery artists.Read more -
Denys Watkins, If these walls could Talk
5 Aug - 11 Sep 2021Denys Watkins, If these walls could Talk. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.Read more
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Denys Watkins, Shutter Bug Watercolours
16 May - 29 Jun 2019Denys Watkins, Shutter Bug Watercolours exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more -
Denys Watkins, Kryptonite
2 - 24 Nov 2018Deny Watkins, Kryptonite Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more -
The Gates, Inaugural Exhibition
7 Jul - 4 Aug 2018Group Exhibition, The Gates. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more
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Denys Watkins at Weasel
Peter Dornauf, EyeContact, November 8, 2020 -
Denys Watkins, Tracing the Contours
Francis Mcwhannell, Exhibition Essay, June 6, 2019 -
Dynamo Hum
CoCA, Art Beat, September 1, 2018 -
Watkins’ Recent Linen, Canvas and Cardboard Paintings
John Hurrell, EyeContact, August 30, 2018 -
Denys Watkins celebrates 50 years of colourful abstracts
Lynn Freeman, Radio New Zealand, July 29, 2018 -
Denys Watkins, Painting Sampler and Book
John Hurrell, EyeContact, December 14, 2017 -
Watkins Submerged
John Hurrell, EyeContact, August 18, 2015 -
Denys Watkins' Literate Paintings
Julian McKinnon, EyeContact, October 7, 2012 -
Hot Diggety Dog
John Hurrell, Eye Contact, October 28, 2010 -
Denys Watkins in Wellington
Martin Patrick, EyeContact, October 7, 2010 -
'Simpsons' meets the subcontinent
Adam Gifford, New Zealand Herald, November 9, 2004 -
Art New Zealand: The Evocative Art of Denys Watkins
Gordon H. Brown, Art New Zealand, October 23, 1978