Dunedin Public Art Gallery is putting the final touches on "Exploded Worlds'', a new collection exhibition extending across the gallery's ground floors.
Proudly positioned front and centre and literally pulsating from a vivid blue wall, hangs John Coley's Abacus (Colour Grid) IX, a bold and vibrant painting that celebrates all the potential of colour and pattern.
Coley (b. 1935) is a New Zealand artist, born and raised in Palmerston North before relocating to Christchurch in the mid-1950s to attend Canterbury School of Fine Arts.
Coley's time in Christchurch brought him into contact with a circle of art students that included Bill Culbert, Patrick Hanly, Trevor Moffitt and Edward Bullmore.
These were exciting times for the young artists, who held firm a belief in the power and importance of art in modern society.
Coley's early painting looked to what he knew, painting "townscapes'' of his hometown of Palmerston North and the surrounding environment.
These scenes gradually gave way to more abstract approaches, and in 1967 Coley exhibited his Abacus series for the first time in Christchurch.
These large-scale abstract compositions reflected his familiarity with op art, using pattern and colour to give a sense of movement and illusion.
Coley, who was also a lecturer at Christchurch Teachers' College, became director of the Robert McDougall Gallery in 1981, retiring from the role in 1996.
His painting Abacus (Colour Grid) IX was purchased for the DPAG collection in 1970, with funds from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society.
- Lucy Hammonds is curator at Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
