Ian Scott (artist)
[1] Over the course of his career he consistently sought to push his work towards new possibilities for painting, in the process moving between abstraction and representation, and using controversial themes and approaches, while maintaining a highly personal and recognisable style.
[2] His work spans a wide range of concerns including the New Zealand landscape (especially West Auckland), popular imagery (particularly the representation of the female figure), appropriation and art historical references.
[3] His approach to painting is aligned with the modernist tradition, responding to the formal standards set by the American painters Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Jules Olitski.
In 1967 Scott's stylised landscapes began to feature women clad in bikinis or fashionable garments of the era such as mini skirts – images that were often appropriated from popular culture, including magazines (such as Vogue and Playboy) and newspapers.
These include portraits of notable figures in the artist's life, such as his brother (Nigel at Anawhata, 1968–69), fellow artists (Colin McCahon in North Otago, 1967–68, Hocken Library, University of Otago; Don Binney at Te Henga, 1969–70, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki) and his Wellington dealer (Peter McLeavey, 1969–70, Collection of Peter McLeavey).
Others have images of couples and children, both idealised and absurd (Offspring, 1969, Table Baby, 1970, and Golden Dreams, 1969, Te Manawa, Palmerston North).
The radical and iconic nature of this painting prompted the poet and art-writer David Eggleton to exclaim that it "charges out of the late 1960s like a rogue elephant," a phrase that nicely captures Scott's propensity for brazenly disrupting the norms and conventions of New Zealand art.
"[20] The particular colour range of the Sprayed Stripes captures both the intense light of Auckland and the pastel hues typically used by suburban home-owners to paint their weatherboard houses.
[24] From 1978 onwards, the crayon lines were eliminated in favour of clean, masked edges of abutted colour, and with the exception of the Asymmetrical Lattices the square canvas became the standard support.
The style of the paintings, particularly those before 2004, is notable for the physicality of the brushwork, with the artist seeking to avoid an overly clean and detailed effect in favour of emphasising the materiality and construction of the image.
[28] A significant development in the series came with the lateral extension of the picture format, the figure positioned to one side of an abstract expanse of white canvas.
[29] Scott's "Girlie" paintings, though critically acclaimed, were also controversial when they were first exhibited in the late 1960s due to the display of nudity that was then considered too explicit in New Zealand's relatively conservative society.
The painting Lawn Lovers (1969), which was a finalist in the 1969 Manawatu Art Prize, was banned from exhibition in the regional centres of Palmerston North and Hamilton after a public outcry in which the gallery received letters of complaint.
[31] In a strange and unfortunate twist, the painting was later loaned to a friend of the artist, and changed hands several times leading to its eventual destruction.
When Scott entered two more "Girlie" paintings in the 1970 Manawatu Art Prize, Sky Leap (1970) and Table Baby (1970), Waikato Times critic, G.E.
[32] In 2007 an exhibition of Scott's Model series paintings at the Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA) in Christchurch came under fire from members of the public, community organisations and critics, and generated intense online debate.
[38][39] In a review of the cultural highlights of 2013, The Press newspaper mentioned "Ian Scott whose untimely death robbed New Zealand of a vital artistic voice".
[40] In a tribute to Scott, the Auckland Art Gallery concluded "Few other local painters have been as prolific as he was, even fewer as determined to explore such diverse and, sometimes, divisive content".
