Max Gimblett
In 1974 Gimblett formed an affinity and enduring friendship with the experimental filmmaker and kinetic sculptor Len Lye, a fellow New Zealander.
In 1991 he participated in a residency at The Rockefeller Foundation, Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy.
In January 2006 Max Gimblett took refuge in the precepts of Buddha, under the guidance of Dairyu Michael "Great Dragon" Wenger, at the San Francisco Zen Center.
Gimblett was the Laila Foundation Artist in Residence at HuiPress, Maui, HI in July 2008, making a suite of Enso etchings.
His work was included in the Guggenheim Museum's exhibition titled "The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860 to 1989" which was open from 30 January to 19 April 2009.
[12] On 26 October 2017, Gimblett received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waikato and again in 20for his philanthropy and achievements in the artistic world.
He is known for his great technical and stylistic range: the monochrome, geometric abstraction, the calligraphic and figurative expressionism all find a place in the work.
"The quatrefoil is defined ..." writes Thomas McEvilley, "as 'a compound leaf or flower consisting of four (usually rounded) leaflets or petals radiating from a common center.'
Most of Gimblett’s works in this format are geometrised, meaning that the petals of the flowers are not merely rounded in an organic sense but are composed of four perfect circles that intersect at a single point.
"[14] Gimblett's work is highly affected by Buddhism, Christianity, classical mythology, alchemy, the writing of Carl Jung, Ernest Hemingway, William Saroyan, DH Lawrence, Dostoyevsky, and the poetry of TS Eliot, Charles Brasch, and Robert Creeley.
He's influenced by fellow artists Len Lye, Jackson Pollock, William Turner, Henri Matisse, and Elizabeth Murray, and Zen ink painters Sengai Gibon, Yamaoka Tesshū, and Hakuin Ekaku.
"The Influence of Zen," writes Thomas McEvilley, "for example, seems natural to Gimblett, and carries with it an echo of Asia’s proximity to New Zealand, but also can be traced partly to American artists with West Coast connections such as Clyfford Still and Mark Tobey.
