Wayne Youle | A decade of portraits: {Suite} Wellington

A decade of portraits is a mini-survey of Wayne Youle portraits, combining originals from the series with new works that draw on formal and stylistic themes present in his 2017 New Zealand Portrait Gallery touring show Strangely Familiar. 

With a nod to the Pop-Art aesthetic, Wayne’s portraiture utilises appropriated imagery of prominent figures within the New Zealand arts as well as socio-political celebrities rendered in bold hues and demarcated by hard-edged lines. While their forms have been pared back to silhouettes of flat, unmodulated blocks of colour, each sitter remains identifiable by some detail or signifier: a signature turtleneck sweater for Gordon Walters; Robert Muldoon’s tipsy sneer; Rita Angus' golden waves.

Studies of Dame Ngaio Marsh, Peter Peryer, Margaret Mahy, Michael King, Robert Muldoon, Gordon Walters, Ralph Hotere, Rita Angus and Colin McCahon sit alongside depictions of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Sidney Poitier and Pelé – forming an intricate matrix between current generations, their modernist predecessors, and international contemporaries.

A decade of portraits captures an ongoing visual conversation that transcends time, bridging the gap between past and present cultural voices. Reinvigorating traditional portraiture with a wry twist, the exhibition celebrates those who have shaped Wayne’s practice whilst illustrating the power of art as a conduit for connection, communication, and expression across generations.