Philip Trusttum completed his first drawing, of a reindeer and Father Christmas, at school in Raetihi in the 1940s. Photo / Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu
Philip Trusttum completed his first drawing, of a reindeer and Father Christmas, at school in Raetihi in the 1940s. Photo / Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu
Works by renowned New Zealand expressionist painter Philip Trusttum have gone on public display in his home town of Raetihi.
Trusttum, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, was born in the Ruapehu town and lived there until the age of five.
"My dad was a lay preacher there for theMethodist Church there for a while, and he played rugby for King Country," Trusttum said.
"He played with King Country, Waikato, and Thames Valley against the 1937 Springboks as well."
Trusttum said it was in Raetihi where he did his first drawing, of a reindeer and Father Christmas.
"Apparently the teacher was quite impressed with it and word got back to my mum, so I went home and did another one on the blackboard to show everyone.
"I was only at school in Raetihi for three months before my family returned back down to Christchurch."
Whanganui's Bill Milbank, who has a large collection of Trusttum's works and curated the exhibition, said there were two things that he tried to do when selecting the paintings.
"One was to try to be expansive as possible without calling in work from anywhere else," Milbank said.
"There is work from the early 1970s through to 2019, so it covers a very significant period of his life.
A Philip Trusttum self portait, on display at the Raetihi Arts Trust Gallery. Photo / Supplied
"Then what I tried to do was get two or three pairings of things, so people could see that he would make a painting and then quickly do another one.
"Philip tends to say that he makes his next work from the mistakes he sees in his last work."
Milbank said Trusttum's work dealt with "the vibrancy of life".
"He's still working frequently, with big pieces too," he said.
"The works will be two to three metres high and one and a half to two metres wide.
"He works on the floor, working around the painting as opposed to being in front of it, so frequently his perspective will be quite unconventional, what you would describe as 'God's eye'."
