Biography:
Born and raised in a small coastal town in New Zealand, Darren has a very strong connection to the sea and has found this feeling remains when travelling around the globe. Moving to the Sunshine Coast to attend university in Brisbane, the influence of architecture on the coastline has become a focal point within his work.
Darren paints primarily with acrylic on timber. The work he produces, although lined with a deeper feeling of loss, always aim to lighten the mood or space for the observer.
Always fascinated with imagery, Darren has spent his life drawing, photographing and painting. Deeply interested in creative thinking and its ability to solve problems, Darren furthered his education by completing a Bachelor of Industrial Design.
After over five years working in design, Darren wound down his career to dedicate more time to pursuing art.
Practice:
In the last 10 years, I have become really aware and fascinated of the way humans interact with and impact nature, mostly among coastal fringes. The development of these areas can sometimes be seen as a negative and at early exposure this can be the easiest interpretation. But, with time and frequent interactions, these feelings can turn to an appreciation of the many eras that these buildings span and represent.
My artworks often speak to these emotions, expressing my fascination of places throughout the world, where the ocean disperses its energy onto a city edge. I draw upon these memories of “place” and feelings of nostalgia to create works that hopefully brings a sense of calm to the observer.
What interests me most about memories is that details are stripped back when we recall something, and instead, we allow ourselves to be guided by the feelings we felt at a particular moment.
The tones and colours I use, draw inspiration from the idea that a “grey” architectural plane is actually also reflecting the colours, however subtle, from the surrounding environment.
When starting a painting, I allow the process to guide my mind and eventually I will know what memory I should be drawing from. It really is the love of the process that keeps me coming back and creates that feeling of needing to paint.
I love working freely to the point of making mistakes but allowing the mistakes to become features that bring a new enriched quality to the works. To me, honesty in imperfections is one of the greatest ways to create beauty, and these elements of my work almost always become my favourite parts of the finished piece.
In 2018 Darren was the winner of best Oil or Acrylic in the Sunshine Coast LALC Art Prize and a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize. In previous years Darren has had successful solo exhibitions in Sydney, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Paris.