Nicholas Daunt

Born in England of Irish parents, Mr Daunt attended London's Eastbrook Boys School on an art scholarship.

In 1960 he moved to Australia where he worked as a graphic artist and designer in fabric.

He holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree and a post-graduate diploma in professional studies in painting from The City Arts Institute of Sydney.

Artist's Comments

"To a degree most contemporary painting interests me. However, I find myself drawn to the New York School of American painters from 1940 to 1950, particularly the work of Franz Kline, De Kooning, Hans Hoffman and Pollock. I like the execution of free style and above all the philosophy of this school, which is based on freedom of expression."

"My own work has a strong landscape quality. It seems to search for a perfect place, maybe coming from endless seeking within myself, always looking for the perfect colour combination to enhance my work. It also takes on an energy that scars the landscape in a frenzied innocence, almost naive, like man's seemingly relentless way of destroying the environment."

Press Commentary

"It has, of course, occurred before that in recessions artistic talents have flourished: The still deeply influential New York School grew out of the Depression and World War II. At the Holdsworth Galleries it reverberates in the 15 red-hot or moss-green land- and sea-scapes by Nicholas Daunt, who will free beauty in the dingy industrial landscape."

"Nolde would have condoned Daunt's jarring of some wide, almost tranquil skies with sudden explosions of colour. Sometimes a long banner of drifting cloud or a celestial rift will stress the rhythmical continuity."

Elwyn Flynn
Australian National News
May 30, 1992

Random Comments

Daunts life changed after a trip to India in 1981 and he became a follower of the ''sant mat'' path of meditation