Richard Rogers Exhibition & Opening

Join Richard Rogers to celebrate the opening of his exhibition on Friday 12 March, 5-7 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Richard Rogers was born and raised in Gisborne and then went on to complete Teacher Training at Ardmore Teacher’s College, where Art was his major – this led to forty years of art teaching at Lytton High School in Gisborne. Over this time, he was painting, sculpting, travelling and visiting museums and galleries – wherever his family travelled.

Being practical is an element that Richard feels is a major part of what it is to be an artist, working with different materials and getting them to be part of the intended form. Solving the problem requires creative thinking, whether you are a painter, sculptor, printmaker or designer. Primarily as an artist he sees little difference in what you are doing, it is just the media and process that varies and the possibilities that they might suggest.

Richard works in series but often skips around, revisiting themes whilst trying to produce artworks that are original and unique. He has recently been exploring a cubist style – which is not surprising as Picasso and Cezanne are huge influences. “Pushing pigment and oil around as our forebears did, 30+ thousand years ago, is grounding, a real privilege and a connection with our most primal.” Picasso has been inspirational in that his philosophy dictates that there are no boundaries – borrow from here, take from there. He once said,” When I am shown a portfolio of old drawings, for instance, I have no qualms about taking anything I want from them.”

Richard admits to being organic in his approach, “I am not technically efficient enough, or able to invest the amount of time, to make works that are perfect” – technical perfection can seem soulless and sterile and having the media talk in your work is part of the process. Being able to decipher how the artist created the effect, the painting, is one of the joys of viewing work and realising the possibilities. Art is what is important, adding religion, cultural boundaries, rules and laws creates restrictions. However, it is these boundaries and processes that fuel rebellions, new beginnings and the desire to be different and original.

The works on display have been created over the last 4-5 years and use materials such as mixed-media constructions, canvas and oils.