Popular artist returns to Little River Gallery
Nelson artist, Georgina Hoby Scutt is once again captivating the art community in New Zealand with the launch of her latest solo exhibition, ‘Sempiternal Summer’ at Little River Gallery. Having previously sold out her Little River debut exhibition in 2022, Georgina’s highly anticipated new body of work promises to immerse viewers in the vivid hues and inviting warmth of the New Zealand summer.
Before becoming a sought-after artist, Georgina spent a significant period in her career as a freelance textile designer. It was her long-cherished dream to paint that steered her onto the path of fine art. When her inaugural exhibition opened its doors in 2017, Georgina realised she had found her true calling.
Today, she creates enchanting canvases that pay tribute to the beautifully weathered landscapes and sun-bleached hues of Aotearoa, along with intriguing florals, portraits and modern colour studies.
Georgina's artistic journey began in Nelson. After gaining valuable experience and broadening her perspectives through study, travel and motherhood, she first picked up the paintbrush in 2016. Drawing from her background in print and pattern design, she blends an assortment of colours and executes expressive brushstrokes with ease. Primarily identifying herself as a 'colourist,' her art reflects a delightful merging of lightly abstracted, loosely figurative, and unreservedly joyous elements.
"I studied print design in London," says Georgina, "and then I spent five years in Barcelona as a freelance textile designer.”
This period shaped her artistic style, direction, and, most importantly, her approach to colour.
Notably influenced by abstract expressionism, the Fauves, Mid-Century British art, and contemporary fashion and interiors, Georgina's style is a playful dance between being intuitive, exploratory, challenging and hugely joyful.
Her latest paintings for 'Sempiternal Summer,' are inspired by Georgina's ceaseless fascination with the dance of light on the landscape.
After a scorching summer, her paintings seek to tell the tales of the colours of the hillsides and trees, evoking the serene ambiance of a late summer afternoon; the radiant sun draping over the treetops, contrasting shadows dancing on the river's surface, the parched grasslands, and riverbed's stones.
"There is always light in my studio, and my love for painting is constant and unchanging," reflects Georgina.
Indeed, it is this enduring love for art that resonates through her body of work, inviting viewers to lose themselves in an eternal New Zealand summer.
Sempiternal Summer will be on display at the Little River Gallery from April 4 to 29.