Semi Formica

Denys Watkins has been one of New Zealand’s most open-minded artists over the past five decades. He has sometimes, quite suddenly, changed medium or style, responding to new stimuli or in order to stave off stasis, to challenge himself. Conceptual art, pop art and colour field abstraction all played a part in the early years. However, Watkins regularly finds inspiration outside of the western art canon, absorbing into his work imagery encountered on overseas travel or inquisitively gleaned from a wide range of print media. His paintings have changed from precisely rendered visual jokes to fuzzy dreamscapes to the mainly abstract ‘constructions’ that have occupied him more recently. Watkins taught at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts from 1980 to 2011, and in 2017 had a survey exhibition, Dynamo Hum, at the University’s Gus Fisher Gallery (touring to Christchurch and Whanganui), accompanied by a book of the same title.

Edward Hanfling: There was a moment, about ten years ago, when you started to exhibit at artist-run or ‘alternative’ spaces like the Snake Pit and RM gallery. Your work came into contact with a younger crowd, some of whom were doing similar kinds of abstraction―organic and improvised, with a focus on materiality and texture.

Denys Watkins: Yes, I suppose it was a kind of affirmation, for me. I like being contextualised with younger artists. I think there are a lot of good young artists doing interesting things. I also fell off the rails, with dealer galleries, for quite a while, and when these alternative things turned up I thought I’d just do them. There was no pressure. The whole Snake Pit thing was exciting. It was like a rejuvenation of communing, and lots of different people went there from different sections of society. It was a great building, right in the middle of town, and it wasn’t driven by a commercial outcome.

E.H.: Most of the artists were emerging rather than established. They didn’t have