Gregory O'Brien gives talk on acclaimed NZ artist Graham Percy
Gregory O'Brien, curator of The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy, will host an exclusive talk sharing the exciting stories behind this exceptional exhibition and his own eventful career.
New Zealand born Gregory O'Brien has enjoyed a varied profession excelling as a writer, poet, editor and painter. Throughout his career O'Brien has won many awards for his books, most recently awarded Winner of the 2009 NZ Post Book Award for Children and Young People (NonFiction) for Back and Beyond: New Zealand Painting for the Young and Curious. As well as his own work O'Brien has edited and contributed to reviews,books, magazines and annuals across the world.
O'Brien's inspiration for developing and curating The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy was drawn from a unique opportunity to live in the Percy family home in Wimbledon, London, the year after Percy's death.
This experience of living amongst Percy's artwork, book shelves and files motivated O'Brien to write A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy. He was struck by Percy's imaginative flights which were launched by the ordinary details of his everyday environment.
Artist, designer and illustrator, Graham Percy, travelled widely and built a career based on closely observed detail. Born in Taranaki in 1938, Percy spent his apprentice years in Auckland before moving to London. Percy's colour blindness meant the bulk of his work is in black and white, while any colour works were a complicated matter requiring meticulously ordered and named pencils and paints. Percy considered himself to be a Kiwi artist, working in Great Britain, which is very evident in many of his works.
O'Brien, will be giving an exclusive talk on Sunday 1 July at 2pm. This talk will give insight into this acclaimed artist as well as O'Brien's own illustrious career.
The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy runs until 16 July at Rotorua Museum.