In this episode, I visit Ruby Wilkinson at her studio in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Ruby holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Massey University College of Creative Arts, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and is currently in the Master of Fine Arts program at Victoria College of Arts, Melbourne University.

Her work is held in numerous public and private collections in Aotearoa, including in the Arts House Trust Collection, and she won the supreme winner of the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award in 2021, and has exhibited in over a dozen solo and group shows since 2020.

She is represented by Jhana Millars Gallery in Wellington.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Ruby Wilkinson Instagram Post for your reference.

You’ll hear Ruby speak about the interesting role figuration has in her process of abstract painting, why she thinks the nature of a her intuitive painting practice is one that so readily translates to viewers, how her paintings can include a lot of private elements that viewers will never see, how she considers a single painting that we see, a layer of multiple paintings that she has created, and, as you’ll hear right throughout the episode, a theme of a young painter that is carefully guiding her evolution with a series of restrictions and deliberate lessons.

In this episode, I visit Grace Wright at her studio in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Grace holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts (with First Class Honours) from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.

She has several awards and residencies to her name, including being the recipient of the 2026 Toi Tauranga Art Gallery Patrons Project and the 2017 Parlour Projects Residency in Hastings. Her work is held in numerous private collections in Aotearoa and internationally, and has exhibited in over 20 solo or group shows.

She is represented by Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland and Ames Yavuz Gallery in Sydney, Singapore and London.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Grace Wright Instagram Post for your reference.

You’ll hear Grace speak about an experiment a few years into her practice which created an historical atmosphere that delivered a significant shift in the paintings, the constant wrestle she has with the paradox that exists in her practice, how reading broadly is an important experiential parallel to her painting, that she is drawing on a unique, unbiased mix including Baroque religious representation, mystics like Hilma af Klint and concepts held by quantum physics as a kind of collective awe of imperfect knowledge to explore painting.

In this episode, I visit John Ward Knox at his home, studio and garden in Karitane.

John holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.

He has work held in numerous public and private collections, including the Chartwell collection, the Pah Homestead collection and the Govett-Brewster Gallery collection, he has exhibited in over 35 solo or group shows, and has been the recipient of several art awards and residencies, including being the The Francis Hodgkins Fellowship recipient in 2015.

He is represented by Robert Heald Gallery in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Ivan Anthony in Auckland and Darren Knight Gallery in Sydney / Gadigal land.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil John Ward Knox Instagram Post for your reference.

You’ll hear John speak about the pace and footprint he wants for himself and the practice, the active role of writing as a parallel to works and exhibitions, a belief that his role as an artist is to create space for someone to exist, but also how viewers can implicate themselves in the duration, or destruction, of the objects that he creates, his relationship to rural, small town and big city Aotearoa, and how he managed to sustain eight years of painting from a single $38 tube of paint.

In this episode, I sit down with Ōtepoti based artist Simon Kaan at Sanderson gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Simon is of Ngāi Tahu, Chinese and Pākeha descent. He has a Diploma of Fine Arts, with Honours, from Otago Polytechnic, and has works held in numerous public and private collections including The University of Waikato collection, at The Arts House Trust and the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu collection. He has also been the recipient of several art awards and residencies.

He is represented by Sanderson Gallery in Auckland, Gallery Thirty Three in Wanaka and De Nova gallery in Ōtepoti.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Simon Kaan Instagram Post for your reference.

In the episode you’ll hear Simon speak about the influences of his Chinese, Māori and European whakapapa on his life and practice, how the absence of a Western art aesthetic growing up made art school more challenging, but also allowed him to create his uniquely own work, the significant influence of Marilyn Webb, his encounters with Ralph Hotere and a kind of parallel of Ralph's painting that Simon sees in his own work, and his ongoing collaboration with ceramicist and uku maker, Wi Taepa

In this episode, I visit Sarah Smuts-Kennedy at her home and studio at Maunga Kereru, in Mahurangi West, north of Auckland.

Sarah has a Master of Fine Arts, with first class honours, from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. She is a multidisciplinary artist who has worked across photography, sculpture and painting, exhibiting in Australia and Aotearoa for more than 20 years. She has been the recipient of several art prizes and residencies, including the McCahon Residency Parehuia. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections including the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Te Haerenga Collection.

She is represented by Laree Payne Gallery in Kirikiriroa.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Sarah Smuts Kennedy Instagram Post for your reference.

In the episode you’ll hear Sarah speak about how she identified the need to move her practice from pictorialising problems to regenerating solutions, how her practice is guided by her spiritual team, that her art practice, her garden, her work in regenerative horticulture and her own healing are all closely linked, and that her time at the McCahon Residency allowed her to find a way into mark making and eventually painting that was nothing short of a revelation.

Kia ora, welcome to episode 37 of The Good Oil, conversations with Aotearoa painters.

In this episode, I visit Richard Killeen at his home and studio in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Richard is over five decades into one of the most celebrated practices in New Zealand. He has work held in numerous public and private collections, including The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū and the Fletcher Collection.

He is represented by McLeavey Gallery in Te Whanganui a Tara and Ivan Anthony in Auckland.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Richard Killeen Instagram Post for your reference.

In the episode you’ll hear Richard speak about the lessons that he took from the writing of James Joyce to apply to painting, how the interesting part of art is what you don’t see, his love for museums, how he has applied and always evolved the use of technology in his practice and why getting feedback from Philip Clairmont that his work was a disgrace to humanity was great to hear.

Kia ora, welcome to episode 36 of The Good Oil, conversations with Aotearoa painters.

In this episode, I visit Raukura Turei at her studio in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Raukura is Ngā Ra-u-ru Kītahi Taranaki, Ngāti Pāoa and Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki.

Her work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions including at, but not limited to, Season, The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū, The Dowse Art Museum, day01 in Sydney Gadigal, Sumer Gallery, and at Corban Estate Arts Centre. Her work has also been included in numerous group shows, including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and is held in collections including The Chartwell Collection and the Dowse Art Museum collection.

Raukura holds a Masters of Architecture from the University of Auckland.

There are images of the works that we talk about on The Good Oil Raukura Turei Instagram Post for your reference.

In the episode you’ll hear Raukura speak about the benefits of working outside Western norms of art and drawing on whakapapa instead, the interesting overlap of the practice being in part driven by art skills acquired at secondary school, and then critical thinking from a degree in architecture, the first time she incorporated uku, or clay, into her practice, how she considers the work she does with uku to be a collaboration with it, and with equal parts confidence and humility, acknowledging that her practice sits with other Māori, and Māori wahine especially, practitioners and researchers past and present.

Kia ora, welcome to episode 35 of The Good Oil, conversations with Aotearoa painters.

In this episode, I speak with Nigel Brown at Artis Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Nigel has work held in numerous public and private collections, including the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū, The University of Auckland Art Collection, The Fletcher Collection, The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

He is represented by Artis Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau, The Division Gallery in Picton and Milford Galleries in Dunedin and Tāhuna.

There are images of the paintings that we talk about on The Good Oil Nigel Brown Instagram Post for your reference.

A quick note of thanks to Lydia Baxendell for her excellent thesis, ‘Nigel Brown and NZ National Identity’ which proved especially useful research material. Thanks Lydia.

In the episode you’ll hear Nigel speak about being witness to a tension between Colin McCahon and James K Baxter about the value of art school, what painting techniques he learned from McCahon and others to apply to his own practice, the reasons he includes text borders in works and the power of words, how he believes each painting can humanise space, and that he considers his practice a kind of research offering, as an alternative to accepted, formal research of academia.