Nicholas Daunt. Painter

To celebrate his 80th birthday Nicholas has a new exhibition, Four Score Years, at the Art Factory in Coffs Harbour which runs from August 9th until September 9th. He has previously exhibited at the Libby Edwards Gallery in Melbourne, the Traffic Jam Gallery in Sydney and the Regional Gallery in Coffs Harbour.

Born to Irish parents in England in 1937, Nicholas attended the Eastbrook Boys School in the U.K. on an art scholarship. In 1960 he moved to Australia where he worked as a graphic artist and designer in fabric. Nicholas holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a postgraduate diploma in professional studies in painting from The City Arts Institute of Sydney.

Daunt said he was inspired by the New York Schools of American Painters from 1940 to 1950, particularly the works of such as Franz Kline, De Kooning and Hans Hoffman.

At the start of Daunts’ career in Sydney, noted painter, writer, curator and art critic Elwyn Lyn wrote in The Australian, “Nolde would have condoned Daunts’ jarring of wide, tranquil skies with sudden explosions of colour. Daunts’ work beholds a loose landscape quality which brings with it a familiarity to the mysterious and enigmatic world of the abstract.”

Daunts’ work reflects some of the influences absorbed whilst in North Carolina painting shows for the voracious gallery scene in New York in the early 1980’s. He then returned to Australia and enjoyed a successful painting and advertising career during the 80’s and 90’s.

Nicholas made a sea-change to the NSW North Coast in 2000 and with his new-found spiritual approach to a simple life, he has continued to create his colourful and dynamic oils on canvas.