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there is no virtuoso flourish of drawing in his paintings: his forms are simple and clear. Rather his virtuosity is shown in his handling of paint. Skies and surfaces are deftly brushed in and the handling works in with his individual palette of dark, shadowy colour to give tension and life to the work. The paintings in this exhibition have an extra energetic factor. Forms shatter into the sky and bits and pieces scatter about. Sometimes this makes the structure too open but generally the works are held together by strong compositions of angles, checks and balances... These are fine paintings, carefully made, evoking wastelands and familiar territories. They evoke emotions but with no subtext of social comment.
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He is an artist who cultivates enigma. He takes ordinary places, landscapes and buildings and combines them into paintings that are truly strange yet curiously familiar... Helmore is an old-fashioned painter. His draughtsmanship is impeccable as witnessed by his accurate scientific illustrations but
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Since leaving art school
Helmore has continued painting. His work has been described by Dick Frizzell as having a "strangely dense atmosphere" and critic T.J. McNamara has referred to its "lonely vertical shapes" and "dim and strange" light. After being influenced by constructivism and cubism in the
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wrote, "Des
Helmore's drawings supply the need for pictures of entire insects felt by many New Zealand amateurs and interdisciplinary students, to an artistic standard few can hope to emulate." The entomologist Anthony Harris said, "Desmond Helmore's superb illustrations rank with the very best in
195:. In his survey of New Zealand art, Frizzell described Helmore as someone who "seemed to have already graduated from somewhere else. All that quiet abstract pondering. I couldn't believe he knew what he was doing, because I certainly didn't." At this time Helmore, through
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1960s, he began painting depictions of rural landscapes after about 1985. Since 2000 his work has focussed on depictions of urban environments. His first solo show was in 1964 at the
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where he learnt the technical aspects of creating maps and illustrations for publication. Upon returning to New
Zealand in 1970 he was employed as an entomological illustrator at
207:. He won a life-painting prize, and graduated in 1963 with a Diploma of Fine Arts (Hons). After working in London from 1967 to 1969, Helmore returned to New Zealand and lived in
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125:. One of the country's most noted and prolific biological illustrators, over 1000 of his illustrations of insects were published in research papers from 1976 to 2006.
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Deitz, L.L., and
Helmore, Desmond W. (1979). "Illustrated key to the families and genera of planthoppers (Homoptera: Fulgoroidea) from the New Zealand sub-region".
335:. In 1965 he received a Merit Award for the Manawatu Contemporary Art Competition, which was followed in 1966 by a solo exhibition at the Manawatu Art Gallery (now
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121:(born 1940) is a New Zealand artist and illustrator, known both for his fine art and for his scientific work depicting insects, not least illustrating the
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478:(contains 22 drawings of a variety of insects, with additional information about each drawing and an introduction on the purpose of the illustrations.)
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In June 1975 Helmore moved to
Auckland and worked as an entomological illustrator for the Systematics Section of Entomology Division,
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from 1992 to 2006. Over these years he created over 1000 insect illustrations for scientific publications, particularly the
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News in
Christchurch, creating lettering, illustrations, and title sequences, but was unhappy with the daily deadlines.
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787:"A Revision of the New Zealand Species of the Genus Sagola Sharp (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae: Faronitae)"
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His drawings have been described as "magnificent" and "exquisitely executed" by entomologists. The scientist
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Zwick, Peter (1983). "Helmore, D.W. (1982). Drawings of New
Zealand Insects".
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From 1967 to 1969 Helmore worked as a geographical illustrator at
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Mackenzie, Kyla (Spring 2017). "Des
Helmore: Extreme Precision".
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The illustrations were created using a stereomicroscope with a
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Reviewing his 2011 solo exhibition at Jane
Sanders Art, for
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His work is in a number of collections, including those of
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McNamara, T. J. (10 March 1994). "Fine Work Resurrected".
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Park, Jong-Seok; Carlton, Christopher E. (2014-12-01).
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343:. While living in London he had a solo show at the
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635:Wilson, Tim (November 1989). "Drawn to Insects".
533:. Auckland: Entomological Society of New Zealand.
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347:in 1968, and in 1972 he was a finalist in the
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882:. Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
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16:New Zealand artist and scientific illustrator
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318:Helmore and his art, taken in 2018 in his
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137:A 1979 Des Helmore drawing of the weevil
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862:"Enigmatic explorations on show"
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94:New Zealand Arthropod Collection
990:Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni
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849:. Auckland: Anna Bibby Gallery.
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531:Drawings of New Zealand Insects
440:Drawings of New Zealand insects
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211:for over 40 years. He moved to
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349:Benson & Hedges Art Awards
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577:Wane, Joanna (30 July 2019).
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371:. He has also exhibited at
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415:Canterbury Society of Arts
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701:Quaestiones Entomologicae
686:10.1080/01650428309361139
529:Helmore, Desmond (1982).
377:Hastings City Art Gallery
225:University College London
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616:. Jane Sanders Art Agent
549:It's all about the image
428:New Zealand Entomologist
407:University of Canterbury
403:Christchurch Art Gallery
169:University of Canterbury
165:Ilam School of Fine Arts
63:Ilam School of Fine Arts
751:Holloway, B.A. (1982).
585:: 20–21. Archived from
547:Frizzell, Dick (2011).
329:Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery
880:"Solar Receptor, Cass"
803:10.1649/072.068.0MO4.1
718:Harris, A. C. (1984).
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392:, T.J. McNamara said:
389:The New Zealand Herald
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845:Helmore, Des (2005).
614:"Des Helmore b. 1940"
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925:at Wikimedia Commons
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760:Fauna of New Zealand
345:B. H. Corner Gallery
256:Fauna of New Zealand
147:Helmore was born in
955:People from Takapau
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275:Sir Charles Fleming
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129:Life and education
119:Desmond W. Helmore
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108:Lecanomerus sharpi
921:Media related to
909:Media related to
583:North & South
453:978-0-477-06714-0
375:in Hamilton, the
252:Landcare Research
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268:scraperboard
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219:Illustration
201:Zen Buddhism
193:John Panting
189:Tony Fomison
161:Christchurch
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67:Christchurch
945:1940 births
911:Des Helmore
620:26 December
434:(1). 11–19.
369:nkb Gallery
288:T. Nagatani
181:Bill Sutton
105:Drawing of
82:Illustrator
73:Occupations
53:New Zealand
49:Nationality
23:Des Helmore
939:Categories
886:19 October
770:19 October
680:(3): 166.
657:19 October
483:References
383:, Napier.
361:Anna Bibby
173:Rudi Gopas
153:Hawkes Bay
472:ignored (
462:cite book
357:Claybrook
337:Te Manawa
295:Helmoreus
215:in 2018.
811:85789769
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320:Hastings
213:Hastings
209:Auckland
730:: 109.
300:weevils
197:beatnik
167:at the
149:Takapau
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333:Napier
286:, and
258:series
205:Taoism
191:, and
179:, and
79:Artist
807:S2CID
756:(PDF)
639:: 19.
339:) in
888:2018
772:2018
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659:2018
622:2018
553:ISBN
474:help
448:ISBN
322:home
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41:Born
799:doi
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310:Art
290:."
241:TV1
159:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
