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Derek Cowie was lost and then he was found again and then he was lost and now he’s back in New Zealand. In the eighties Cowie was toWellington what the mountains were to The Sound of Music. Curator Robert Leonard loved his work and in 1989 famously placed it centrally in the Shed 11 exhibition Nobodies. A couple of months ago you could have picked up a three square meters plus painting from this time at the Tim and Sherrah Francis auction. They were fans too. And now a new wave of Cowie enthusiasm has been triggered by an exhibition that opened in Wellington last night. Yes, he's back showing in Wellington but not at Peter McLeavey this time round but at Page Blackie. It’s an eclectic mix of materials and styles with Cowie’s theatricality underpinning it all. With old school charm he was keen to assure everyone this was only a starter with the main show scheduled for May. This time it looks like Derek Cowie is not going away.
Image: Derek Cowie at his Page Blackie opening
Just to let you know we've added some more studio pics to over-the-net.weebly.com. Included are some classic images from 1988 of Derek Cowie in his Haining Street studio, an old Chinese Mission Hall. Cowie’s paintings featured in some National Art Gallery shows and for a time he worked in the Peter McLeavey Gallery where he also exhibited. You can see an example of his work here. Also new to the site are some photographs taken in July 1988 in Neil Dawson’s England Street studio and some taken in May 1994 of Shane Cotton in his classic front-room-of-the-house studio in Palmerston North.
Image: Derek Cowie, 1988
