Jim Gorman came to New Zealand from Scotland in 1967 and settled in Wellington where he enrolled in the Graphic Design course at Wellington School of Design. During his working life he was an illustrator, cartoonist, designer and illustrations editor. Besides his graphic work for many publications, including the New Zealand School Journal, the New Zealand Listener and the Post-Primary Teachers Journal, Jim also painted in acrylic, oil and watercolour. In the 1990s he started making small bronze figurative sculptures, mostly of animals. Jim has exhibited his work at several venues including the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Art Haus, 33 1/3 Gallery and Mahara Gallery since living on the Kapiti Coast.
This survey represents 50 years of his work.
Jim Gorman writes:
I have always admired the work of the Dark Ages and the early Middle Ages, and in my work there are echoes of Byzantine icons, Romanesque frescoes and, perhaps strongest of all, Celtic book illumination. The ambiguity of Celtic art fascinates me, and I have sought to produce images which are formal and rigid and at the same time lively and flexible. So much for the bare bones of my style. I find it more difficult to say what the pictures mean. I feel that painting and music take over where words fail. The composition of a picture is similar to that of a piece of music; rhythm, harmony and counterpoint have much in common with line, colour and the juxtaposition of shapes. When we listen to music, depending on our experience, emotional state, or whatever, we respond by letting our imagination supply the ‘meaning’. That is how I would like people to approach my pictures; to think of them as music for the eyes; to ask, ‘What does it mean to me?’ instead of just ‘What does it mean?’ in this way, the viewer is working with the picture rather than being dictated to by it.
