Richard Bigwood – Artist Biography

I am an artist who enjoys painting portraits, still life's and abstract pictures. I have been living and working as an artist in Wellington since March 2007. My preferred mediums are oil on canvas and ink on water-colour paper.

I have contributed artwork to many exhibitions around New Zealand and in recent years have received a number of prestigious National Awards. These include:

2009 – People’s Choice Award. North Shore Art Awards.

2010 – Merit Award Winner – Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards.

2010 – People’s Choice Award and runner up prize - Duxton Art Awards.

2010 – Winner Wai Art Awards.

2010 – People’s Choice Award Winner – Taranaki Art Awards.

2011 – Winner Royal Easter Show Art Award. Winner of the K G Fraser award for best painting in show.

I regularly work on commissioned portraits and continue to enjoy the challenge of capturing the essence of a subject.

At present I am working on a number of large scale oil paintings that draw on themes from classical legends and mythology. These works also explore the boundary between the physical world and the metaphysical. A multitude of symbols are included in these paintings and the meaning of the works are left deliberately ambiguous.   The viewer is engaged in there own dialectic as to the messages contained in the images.

I am also working on some multi-media artworks that combine abstract and figurative work.

My abstract works were inspired by viewing the Abstract Expressionist works of the 20th Century in New York and London.

I have lived in New Zealand since 2000, and have an appreciation of New Zealand art.   My favourite New Zealand artists are Rita Angus and Charles Goldie.