B.

Living Here, Aotearoa surveys the art work produced by Nigel Brown over the past twenty years.

This touring exhibition curated by the Manawatu Art Gallery offers an opportunity to view the paintings of this New Zealand artist who believes art has a responsibility to its audience and the community beyond. In his work, technical innovation is secondary to the specific or particular content of a painting and his art in general, is aimed at the widest possible community audience.

Brown favours a style that is organic and direct and believes it to be the best style to reflect his concerns. He constructs images from our political, social and cultural fabric. Living Here, Aotearoa looks at broad themes in the artist's work which have recurred over the last two decades. These include the despoliation of land, suburban neurosis, social conflict issues such as the 1981 Springbok Tour and the 1980s campaign for Nuclear Free New Zealand.

('Living Here, Aotearoa', Bulletin, No.84, April/May 1993, p.2)