Maughan blooms back in homeland

Few things scream ‘‘spring’’ like florals and gardens, and Pataka’s latest exhibition is a celebration of both.

A Clear Day, which opened on Sunday, is Wellington artist Karl Maughan’s first major solo exhibition in a public gallery since he returned to live in Wellington almost 10 years ago.

The internationally renowned artist said the paintings all depicted New Zealand gardens, but also had touches of places he had visited.

‘‘I’ve been painting gardens so long now it’s hard to know why,’’ he said.

‘‘I just find something new and interesting every time, so keep doing it.’’

This exhibition of his paintings – dating from his early student days in 1987 up to the present – have been gathered from private and public collections in Palmerston North and Wellington.

‘‘It’s really exciting seeing it all together because I never get to see it like this.’’

Contemporary art curator Mark Hutchins-Pond said the hyperrealistic paintings of gardens in full flower would be the perfect cure for winter blues.

‘‘It’s uplifting and it’s joyful. It’s got all the feel-good feelings,’’ he said.

Hutchins-Pond said it was the first time Pataka had held a solo exhibition of Maughan’s work.

‘‘ It’s a celebration of the homecoming of one of our local boys.’’

The six- canvas panorama centrepiece, A Clear Day, 1999, is borrowed from Te Papa’s collection.

Maughan was born in Wellington and grew up in Palmerston North, where his mother was a landscape gardener.

He lived in London for 10 years and returned to New Zealand in 2005.