This modernist abstract work is largely concerned with the interplay between positive shapes and negative spaces. In developing those shapes, Gordon Walters has taken the koru, or fern bud, and stylised it into a simple horizontal bar with a circular end. The spiral koru features widely in traditional Mâori art. Walters used a hard-edged style in his paintings and drawings, with no obvious brushstrokes or tonal modulation. There is a suggestion of Op(tical) Art in his geometric forms, though Walters was not part of this movement. Walters was born in Wellington and studied art at Wellington Technical College while he was working as a trainee commercial artist. He travelled to Europe in 1950 and there studied the paintings of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), as well as the work of French geometric abstractionists. Walters returned to Wellington in 1955 and began painting full-time in 1966. He later moved to Auckland then, in 1976, to Christchurch where he lived until his death. He is regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading abstractionist artists. (Opening Gallery hang, 2003)

Developed from the spiral 'koru' or fern bud of traditional Maori art, this work is part of a series begun by Walters in the 1950s. As the series evolved the organic koru was gradually stylised into a simple horizontal bar with a circular end. A modernist abstract work in which shape and colour form the painting's subject, it is the interplay between positive and negative spaces which enlivens Untitled's hard-edged composition. The title emphasises the fact that there are no symbolic meanings or outside references. "My work," Walters said, "is an investigation of positive/negative relationships within a deliberately limited range of forms... I believe that dynamic relations are most clearly expressed by the repetition of a few simple elements." It is the internal logic of the geometric relationships which we are invited to consider here.

This is a Modernist Abstract work in which shape and colour form the painting's subject. The koru, or fern bud, is a traditional Maori decorative form, which Walters has abstracted and stylised. He has straightened the stem and altered the bud, thereby arriving at his own motif. Walters has alluded to this shape as the essence of form.

"My work," Walters said, "is an investigation of positive/negative relationships within a deliberately limited range of forms… I believe that dynamic relations are most clearly expressed by the repetition of a few simple elements."

Born in Wellington, Walters began studying art at Wellington Technical College in 1935 while working as a trainee commercial artist. Travel and a subsequent position at the Government Printing Office in Wellington were followed by a move into fulltime painting in 1966. Walters taught briefly at the University of Auckland but in 1976 moved to Christchurch where he lived until his death. His work is represented in all major art institutions in New Zealand. (Date unknown - before 2002)