Landscapes and music legends on show

SHEDDING LIGHT: Two of Stephen J Duncan's landscape pieces, currently on display at King Street Artworks.

The vast Wairarapa terrain and musical legends of the 70s and 80s are the stars of King Street Artworks' latest exhibition.

The art studio is displaying a collection of paintings by regular artist Stephen Duncan at its gallery space -- the latest in a string of exhibitions showcasing individual service users' work.

Titled simply Works by Stephen J Duncan, his show is a mix of portraits and landscapes in acrylic paints, all in an expressionist style -- with intense colour palettes, gestural brushstrokes and flat, Edvard Munch-inspired facial features.

His portraits are a homage to his love of rock music and admiration for female artists such as Australian heavy metal guitarist Cris Bonacci, Girlschool rocker Kelly Williams and US punk rock icon Wendy O Williams.

Duncan said he has been coming to King Street since 2009, having discovered the place by chance.

At the time, he was newly bereaved after losing his wife to cancer, and art had been crucial in helping the healing process.

"Whatever we're doing, we all need to have some central in our lives and, for the last few years art has been central for me," Duncan said.

Now retired, Duncan worked as a public servant for many years, and said it was a surprise to discover his artistic ability develop by going to King Street.

"I never expected I'd be able to put something useful on canvas," he said. "No-one should ever start by assuming they can't do something; that way it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

King Street Artworks studio manager Linda Tilyard said Duncan is a talented, subtle colourist and his portraits all have a 'funky folk element'.

She particular praised his two landscape paintings which are on display at the gallery, Whatever the Weather and From the Train Home, both capturing Wairarapa farmland, for a 'wonderful use of light'.

"I enjoy taking a different approach -- to paint a new kind of landscape that doesn't look exactly as it's meant to," Duncan said.

Another of Duncan's works, a portrait of singer-songwriter Patti Smith, was a selected for the 2015 Friends of Aratoi Art Awards exhibition.

Duncan's show follows an exhibition called Whakaoreore by Amiria Wickham -- a selection of pencil drawings depicting Marae life in Wairarapa.

King Street Gallery, 16 Queen St, is open Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm, 10am to 2pm Saturdays. Stephen Duncan's exhibition runs until March 1.