Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: When art pokes the rebel within

By Mark Story
Hawkes Bay Today·
1 Jun, 2016 06:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Bryan Dew. Photo / Andrew Labett

Bryan Dew. Photo / Andrew Labett

Years ago I had the good fortune of interviewing the now late artist, Bryan Dew.

Born in Hastings in 1940, he decamped as a young man to London before landing in New York sometime in the late 60s. In 2005 he returned from the Big Apple to visit the Fruit Bowl for the first time in almost four decades. Given the length of his US sojourn, my immediate inference was he missed the Heretaunga Plains very little.

As it were, his uneasy view of "home" was evidenced in the satire he's best known for, including works he painted in the 60s of what to him were the awkward Kiwi conventions of marriage, beauty contests, 21sts and funerals.

He had this endearing habit of removing his glasses each time he spoke, only to put them back on when listening to my questions. It was as if his glasses enabled hearing, but impeded speech.

"So", I asked him, "after 40 years away, what's the most significant Kiwi culture shift you've noticed on return?"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

His reply was plain but insightful: "The fact you can't just pop around to someone's house for a cup of tea anymore ... you have to ring ahead". Perhaps he was a little deflated at the irony of living four decades in 'the city that never sleeps' to return to a once sleepy Hawke's Bay now unable to take his call. At the weekend I had the good fortune of again viewing his best work on exhibit at the MTG. I'd forgotten how quietly seditious it is. Drawn particularly to one of his paintings, I pulled out my cellphone (I know, I know) to take a quick snap. But before I could, a kindly gallery volunteer materialised from the ether and warned that we weren't to take photos. Dew would have loved my graceless moment. For here was an unpaid pensioner, fiercely (but politely) protecting the posthumous worth of his intellectual property. Damn straight, it made my day.

Discover more

Editorial: Fish stocks a problem we must solve

27 May 10:00 PM

Editorial: Dogged Dagg deserves ABs recall to duty

30 May 04:30 AM

Editorial: Bad-taste jokes have no place

31 May 04:00 AM

Editorial: Investing in kids' reform will pay off

02 Jun 04:30 AM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

07 Jul 04:10 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

07 Jul 04:03 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

'Amazing achievements': Hawke's Bay Export Awards finalists announced

07 Jul 04:25 AM

The winners will be celebrated at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre on July 31.

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

‘He’s smooth. He’s a practised thief’: Former club CEO had a secret criminal past

07 Jul 04:10 AM
One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

One lane reopens after diesel spill on Napier-Taupō road

07 Jul 04:03 AM
'Massive cleanup': Fire damages Napier cocktail bar just months after opening

'Massive cleanup': Fire damages Napier cocktail bar just months after opening

07 Jul 04:03 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP