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Takahē issue 107 - cover art by Roy Good
Takahē issue 107
Page 76
Roy Good Parallel Universe
By Edward Hanfling.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name
at Te Uru, 2018
Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name
at Te Uru, 2018
In Good Form - The Abstract Art of Roy Good
by Edward Hanfling.
Lopdell Gallery Retrospective 2007
Lopdell Gallery Retrospective 2007
250 years of New Zealand Painting
By Gil Docking, Michael Dunn
and Edward Hanfling.
and Edward Hanfling.
250 years of New Zealand Painting
Page 253: ROY GOOD (b.1945) has revitalised his painting career since retiring from design and teaching work. His geometric abstractions are ingeniously composed, impeccably crafted and optically dynamic. The paintings themselves have various shapes, setting up continuities between the outer edges and the internal forms. Planes Bisect Tondo No.3 (2016 plate 186) has interlocking, overlapping shapes and subtle tonal shifts, intense surface patterns and ambiguous depths.
Good was born in Timaru and studied at the Canterbury School of Fine Arts from 1963 to 1965. After moving to Auckland in 1966, he began what proved to be a long fulfilling career in the design department at New Zealand Broadcasting (NZBC; later TVNZ). He was head of design there in the 1980’s, while also in demand for corporate design projects. Good had exhibitions of his paintings at the Vulcan Gallery and Barry Lett Galleries in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, before becoming part of a group of abstract artists - including Gordon Walters, Milan Mrkusich and Ian Scott - represented by Peter Vuletic and the Petar/James Gallery.
Notable early works are the ‘Triangle’, ‘Octagon” and ‘Notched’ paintings, as well as a range of paintings using using tall, narrow formats and stacked shapes, suggesting relationships with architecture. Good is inspired by modernist principles, established in the early 20th century by the German Bauhaus, the Dutch De Stijl group and the Russian Constructivists, which promoted links between art, architecture and design. There are also affinities with later American practitioners of the ‘shaped’ canvas, such as Kenneth Nolan and Frank Stella.
Good’s newest paintings exude a modernist’s desire for invention, but also a jazzy exuberance that bells the modernist credo ‘less is more’. He reinvents shapes and ideas taken from his modernist heroes such as Max Bill, or form his own 1970’s work, as in the triangular ‘Gothic’ paintings of 217 - 2021, while the ‘Modernism Meets Tane Mahuta’ series he mixes the ‘international style’ with the local. Consistent throughout is a finely mottled paint surface peculiar to Good’s work, which is achieved through layering and stumbling, and like much abstraction, is only fully appreciated by seeing the painting itself rather than a reproduction.
PLATE 186 ROY GOOD, Planes Bisect - Tondo No.3, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 1200mm diameter. Collection University of Auckland
Good was born in Timaru and studied at the Canterbury School of Fine Arts from 1963 to 1965. After moving to Auckland in 1966, he began what proved to be a long fulfilling career in the design department at New Zealand Broadcasting (NZBC; later TVNZ). He was head of design there in the 1980’s, while also in demand for corporate design projects. Good had exhibitions of his paintings at the Vulcan Gallery and Barry Lett Galleries in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, before becoming part of a group of abstract artists - including Gordon Walters, Milan Mrkusich and Ian Scott - represented by Peter Vuletic and the Petar/James Gallery.
Notable early works are the ‘Triangle’, ‘Octagon” and ‘Notched’ paintings, as well as a range of paintings using using tall, narrow formats and stacked shapes, suggesting relationships with architecture. Good is inspired by modernist principles, established in the early 20th century by the German Bauhaus, the Dutch De Stijl group and the Russian Constructivists, which promoted links between art, architecture and design. There are also affinities with later American practitioners of the ‘shaped’ canvas, such as Kenneth Nolan and Frank Stella.
Good’s newest paintings exude a modernist’s desire for invention, but also a jazzy exuberance that bells the modernist credo ‘less is more’. He reinvents shapes and ideas taken from his modernist heroes such as Max Bill, or form his own 1970’s work, as in the triangular ‘Gothic’ paintings of 217 - 2021, while the ‘Modernism Meets Tane Mahuta’ series he mixes the ‘international style’ with the local. Consistent throughout is a finely mottled paint surface peculiar to Good’s work, which is achieved through layering and stumbling, and like much abstraction, is only fully appreciated by seeing the painting itself rather than a reproduction.
PLATE 186 ROY GOOD, Planes Bisect - Tondo No.3, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 1200mm diameter. Collection University of Auckland
Takahē issue 107 features an in-depth essay, written by Linda Tyler, exploring Good's art and design practice.
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