Darryn George

Darryn was born in Christchurch in 1970 and attended Canterbury School of Fine Arts, graduating in 1993. “I always enjoyed art. At art school I knew it was a privilege to make art each day, but I was conscious that one day I would need to get a real job!”

Once he left art school, the routine of making art continued. Each night after the classes at Teacher’s College, then later, after the classes at Hamilton Boys High (where he taught for 4 years) he would spend the evenings working in the studio. He completed a Master of Fine Arts during this time. He began to develop a visual language combining aspects of his Christian faith and designs from Māori meeting houses, with his interest in international abstraction.

In 1999, Darryn was invited to be part of the “Hiko! New Energies in Māori Art”, exhibition at the Robert McDougall Art Annex in Christchurch, curated by Jonathan Mane-Wheoki. It was here that Peter McLeavey saw Darryn’s work and the conversations began.

Since then he has had a busy exhibition record exhibiting regularly throughout New Zealand and overseas. The highlight of his career to date has been exhibiting in the “Personal Structures” exhibition—a collateral event at the Venice Biennale 2013.