Respected and much-loved New Zealand artist Philip Trusttum is assuming control of The Colombo’s extensive retail and dining spaces in Sydenham in June.  The Colombo’s owner, Lilly Cooper has invited Deborah McCormick Consulting DMC as producer and for the ‘takeover,’ by the artist, confirming the installation and placement of 120 paintings by Trusttum  in spaces selected by McCormick from literally two decades  of works she viewed in the artist’s studio.

Trusttum is an artist with an unstoppable creative drive. For example, in the immediate post-earthquake period in Christchurch  and unable able to work in a dedicated studio at that time, he completed over 1600 drawings in volumes of hand-made paper books purchased from Trade Aid, filling them with people, creatures, toys and figures.  At the heart of the subjects of his paintings is his intellectual curiosity in the daily encounters of his life in a domestic environment that in a wider context represents the outwardly mundane, yet meaningful realities of his and all our everyday lives.  

Visitors to The Colombo Art Takeover will see paintings from over the past twenty-four years whose subjects will be as surprising as they will be familiar, collectively part of an encounter with an artist who has continually reconsidered and reviewed all aspects of the world around him in his paintings and life.  

DETAILS: Philip Trusttum, The Colombo Art Takeover, The Colombo, 363 Colombo St, Sydenham, 28 May – 30 June: Exhibition open to the public daily.

IMAGE:  Philip Trusttum, Tram, 2020, acrylic on canvas