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Johl Dwyer

Johl Dwyer – Biography

Part of the vitality of Joel Dwyer’s artwork lies in the way they delight us with their captivation of colour. If Klein Blue is one kind of readymade, the chromas which develop and bloom inside Dwyer’s works are another. From soft chalky whites to glowing jewel tones, colours emerge and mutate throughout the making process, recording the passage of time and the elemental transformation from liquid to solid. Undermining both the notion of surface as a kind of virtual flatness, and that of the blank canvas awaiting the hand of the artist, Dwyer’s colours have developed a life of their own.

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so make a few objects beautiful, but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look … to affect the quality of the day…. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

Johl Dwyer graduated with an MFA from The University of Auckland in 2014.

He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions every year since 2004. His work is held in the Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, and the James Wallace Arts Trust, as well as numerous private collections.

Awards include:

  • The University of Auckland Joe Raynes Scholarship 2014
  • Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge Watercolour Award 2013
  • Glaistor Ennor Staff Choice Award 2006

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