Amici (Italian for Friends) is a collection of paintings that Bay of Plenty artist Bryce Brown has been mentally putting together for the last three years. Bryce chose the Italian word as the title as he feels it sums up the positive moods and interrelationship of the figures in his paintings. Whether the subjects are in groups, couples or alone, the viewer is lured into wondering what each character is thinking.
His love of New Zealand and his passion for travel have played a large part in the development of his distinctive style. Bryce’s work has a Euro/Polynesian feel often likened to the Polynesian figures of Gauguin with a twist of renaissance. Bryce has chosen Dunedin for this exhibition as he finds the richness and diversity of the local culture fascinating. He loves the sense of ‘tight knit community’ and it also appeals to his Scottish roots. Dunedin is a place where Bryce and his family can see them selves spending a lot more time in the future.
Bryce has had six solo exhibitions in New Zealand and has work in private collections throughout New Zealand as well as London, Edinburgh, New York, California, and Belgium.
One of the larger paintings from the ‘Amici’ exhibition, ‘Brothers’ has been added to the John Deere International collection and will be on display for a short time at The Artist’s Room before heading off to it’s permanent home in Moline, Illinois, USA. This painting will have a home among several wonderful artists from around the world; Grant Wood, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alexander Obregon, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Liu Kuo-Sung and Ernesto Barreda to name just a few.
It is the only piece that will be in The John Deere collection from a New Zealand artist, something Bryce feels very honoured about.
Bryce paints full time and he and his wife Catherine and their three children live in Mt.Maunganui, New Zealand.
Bryce Brown has been a Premiere Portfolio Artist at absolutearts.com since January 2003. View more of his artwork at http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/b/brycebrown/ or at his website http://www.brycebrownart.com.
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