Environmentally enhanced creativity genes.
Since I can remember I have had the urge to create art, I have always been naturally interested in art and drawing from a young age, drawing on everything from my schoolbags, furniture to myself. As I have aged and grown my urge to capture my observations, interpret my impressions and travel life’s horizons of ideas and textures continues. Seeking to create expressions of natural shapes and forms woven with concepts and emotion.
Going some way to explain this is desire and choice to do art is twofold.
I was born in New Zealand, raised and stimulated by adopted parents that saw that art materials and books on art and
artists kept me happy and quiet for hours.
Secondly meeting my Australian birth parents when I was 18 put more pieces into place for me with the realisation that my blood parents
were artists and that I came from a family with a long history of art and music.
My Birth father is a painter /sign writer, my Mother is a fibre artist , sister a fabulous musician and my grandfather a lifelong musician too.
Genetically artistic by nature enhanced by a nurturing environment, explains my continued drive to create art. The art is in my DNA!
(continues below image)
Art stains right through my skin, saturating to the genetic core of my being.
Sculpture and painting are the bedrock of my creativity.
Artistic expression is my vent, passion, obsession and mission.
Through school my best marks were always in art and technical drawing.
After I left school in 1987 I completed Trade certificate (completed 1991) in PhotoLithography (Photo engraving) Colour theory, printing theory and practice 1991 -2004: Also completed some advanced computer graphics, scanning and colour theory education courses.
To just observe is not enough for me, expressing myself and visually communicating my experiences and ideas from inside my heart and mind is an essential part of me.
Cultivating my inner self. Observing the driving behavior, psychology, desires and perceptions of me and those around me Concepts embracing my consciousness, reasoning, concequences and the human nature that is behind behavior, natural shapes and forms, intricate natural process and patterns of life, love, culture, nature, spirit, politics, science, imagination my home in New Zealand, my place in the world and beyond all drive me to create art and communicate the human condition as I see it.
Growing up in New Zealand I became aware of the Maori peoples deep spiritual connections to family, ancestors and the land through their art. This has been a huge inspiration to me over the years.
No part of life too beautiful, strange or ugly, no detail too small to ignore.
I have explored materials patiently and persistently over the years, choosing to use top quality oils or arylics often using strange one off materials alongside the airbrush and oils to push my art into new areas.
Cultivating an understanding of process, materials and meaning I am able to express ideas with loose and formal techniques I have learnt.
I have always had a genuine interest in learning about artists and art history extracting inspiration while still being true to my own vision.
With my discovery of the airbrush a new style started forming.
But as a self taught artist (including brushed art) I soon realised that I needed more formal training and through a very fortunate meeting the pioneering airbrush artist Bernard Roundhill agreed to give me one on one tutorials where he could pass on his innovations and skills before his Parkinson’s disease progressed further. Bernard’s skills inspired me to integrate freehand and masking elements with my photolithography processes background.
I spent a year in the South Island of New Zealand and a year in Australia and 4 years floating between small jobs spending all of my spare time in my studio or my room practicing sketching or painting. A total of 7 years in what I call a “serious period of self examination and material exploration” to get a real world tactile experience of materials and explore the fundamentals of who I am and what I wanted to say and what skills I have to do it.
I worked alongside Chris Bezencon at Eastside Tattoo studio learning more styles and sharpening my drawing skill for tattoo. I designed a tattoo that represented all the things that made my life journey including family, God, past, present, future, friends, love and life. It started with a single tattoo in 1990, this Tattoo was a massive effort taking 150 hours of pain to complete, showing my dedicated to my artwork.
From 1992 – 2001 I designed over 200 pages of unique award wining Tattoo designs for permanent artwork and are worn by many people from all over the world and are shown at Eastside Tattoo in Howick.
A cycling accident that almost destroyed the use of my drawing arm gave me time to rethink my direction and artistic passions.
During this time art on the body became the next art form to interest me.
I started integrating body painting, airbrush painting, stencil and brush painting and computer art together this was the next horizon to explore I was looking for. I have been on a non stop journey of creativity and process integration since.
Over the years I have gifted many hundreds of art works to people I love and people who have inspired me, I have also traded art for everything from my tattoo a washing machine to food.
Art and painting continues to be the passion in my life.
I continued to gain media attention as one of the very best body painters in New Zealand, gaining lots of headlines on TV, news papers, documentaries and the internet with painted famous New Zealander’s or charity work, publicity stunts, competition wins and high profile clients.
This had created a talking point about me and my work. This is exposure that I have nurtured and stimulated to keep my public profile as active as I can. I have decided to leave body art in the past now.
After exploring body art and the airbrush I now have rediscovered oils again and am painting with enthusiasm and a feeling of competency and skill integration that only age and experience can bring.
Trained as a photolithographer. Retrained in Mac computing and design after the demise of the photolitho industry. I have been working for myself since 2001 doing everything to make images in anyway I can.
Phil DuChard 2013