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After graduating with a Graphic Design Degree majoring in illustration, Antony then went on to study Fine Art at Elam, University of Auckland, earning a Post Graduate Diploma in 2011. He has been a selected finalist in the James Wallace Art Awards, the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award, the Molly Morpeth-Canaday Art Award, and in 2018 won the Merit Award at the National Small Sculpture Prize. In 2001 he won the New Zealand Art and Faith Award. He has exhibited in New Zealand, Australia, China and New York where he has representation with Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.

Densham has developed a visual language that embraces the ephemeral. He lives in New Zealand, a country with spectacular glaciers, picturesque fiords, rugged mountains, vast plains, rolling hillsides, subtropical forests and volcanoes. It has been said that four seasons can exist in one day. Living in this environment, its not surprising that his  paintings are implied and malleable. When contemplating landscape painting in these terms the artist describes a definition of the word Vista that relates particularly well with the process of a painting as it develops. It reads.. An extensive mental view (as over a stretch of time or a series of events.) 

 

‘Slowing down, relooking, coming back to, helps to internalize a landscape and a painting practice’. These works encapsulate a palimpsest of decisions over time. The aim is to give the viewer a sense of an ever-changing psychological landscape. 

 

With respect to the relationship between abstraction and figuration Densham says, ‘The marks are both independent gestures but also acknowledge the brain's tendency to search for representation. I’m looking for this middle ground, to confound the space somehow through the interchange of revealing and concealing.'

 

Education

 

2011      

Postgraduate Diploma of Fine Arts, Elam, University of Auckland

2006      

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam, University of Auckland

1996      

Bachelor of Graphic Design, A.U.T

 

Individual Exhibitions

 

2022

Unearth, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York

2018

Temporal Matter, Grey Gallery, Auckland

2016

Amalgam, Art Bureau, Auckland

2014      

Impossible Rock, Mt Eden Villiage Centre, Auckland

2013      

Unfolding, 30 Upstairs, 30 Courtney Place, Wellington                                                                     

2010      

Lost Time, Window, University of Auckland

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

2021

Odd Couple, Curated by Max Zlotsky Seiler, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York

The Summer Show, Deborah Dancy, Antony Densham, Susan English, Tucker Nichols, Erin O'brien

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York

2018

What I See, Auckland Art Week Group Show, Grey Gallery, Auckland

2016

Artbourne, Art Auction to provide support for students at Wellesley College, Wellington

2013      

ArtDego, Hye Rim Lee, Matt Molloy, Antony Densham, Amber Wilson, Laura Forest, The Nathan Club, Auckland

2012      

Restraint, Antony Densham, Wendy Kawabata, Catherine Ellis, Clare Kim, Charlotte Nancy, Alexandra Odelle, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland

Nomophobia, Antony Densham, Phillip Madill, Simon Kaan, Briar Mark, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland

150X150X150 Small Works Exhibition, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland

2011      

Another Truth, Fiona Wilson, Richard Boyd-Dunlop, Jamie Chapman, Glen Snow, Antony  Densham. Studion 8 Newton, Auckland
Elam Graduation Exhibition, University of Auckland (Postgraduate Diploma)

2009      

Anthony Harper Art Award. Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch

2007      

Fine, Sanderson Contemporary Art and City Art Rooms, Auckland

2006      

Elam Graduation Exhibition, University of Auckland

2005      

They Never Knew They Were Robots, Stanbeth House, Custom St, Auckland 

2003      

Duo show In Between Antony and Amanda Densham, Depot Artspace, Devonport, Auckland

Bloodlines Spiral Gallery, Auckland City
Linden Postcard Art Awards Exhibition St Kilda, Melbourne                                                              

2002    

Tibetan Art Auction Exhibition, Artstation, Auckland

 

Reviews / Text / Press

 

2021

Review of The Summer Show at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, Bridgehampton review by Annette Hinkle

Art Edit Magazine, Issue 28. 'Ones To Watch' 

2012      

From The Sublime to the Meticulous, by TJ McNamarra, NZ Herald

2011

Threaded Magazine, Ed.12 'The Five - Star Issue

2010

Sculpture At Window, by John Hurrell

History, truth, and "things," by Daniel Wilson

If Time Could Tell, by D.M Satale

 

Awards / Selections

 

2023

Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday Painting and Drawing Award, Whakatane

Finalist, Aspiring Art Prize, Wanaka

2022

Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Kirikiriroa, Hamilton

2021

Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Kirikiriroa, Hamilton

Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday Painting and Drawing Award, Whakatane

Finalist, Aspiring Art Prize, Wanaka

Finalist, Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Prize, Lethbridge Gallery, Sydney

2020

Finalist, NZ Painting and Printmaking Award, Wintec, Kirikiriroa,Hamilton

Finalist, Walker and Hall Art Award, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

Finalist, National Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

2019

Finalist, Walker and Hall Art Award, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

2018

Winner Merit Prize, National Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

Finalist, Molly Morpeth-Canaday 3D Art Award, Whakatane

2015

Finalist, Walker and Hall Art Award, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

Finalist, Hutchins Work On Paper Prize, Tasmania, Australia

2014      

Finalist, Wallace Trust Art Award (travelling exhibition) TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland

Finalist, Walker and Hall Art Award, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

Finalist, Molly Morpeth-Canaday Art Award, Whakatane

Finalist, National Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

2012      

Finalist, National Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland
Finalist, Wallace Trust Art Award, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland
2011      

Finalist, Wallace Trust Art Award, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland
2009      

Finalist, Anthony Harper Art Award, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch
2003      

'Art on the Bus' recipient (AK03 Travelling exhibition on Auckland buses)
Finalist, North Shore Art Award, Auckland 

Finalist, Linden Postcard Art Award, St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
2001      

Winner ‘NZ Art and Faith' Award, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland
Winner Painting section, Devonport Art Awards, Auckland
1997      

Finalist Windsor and Newton Art Award 
Art Work commission for A.I.T Post Graduate prospectus

Gallery Representation

 

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts

 

Public Collections

 

Wallace Arts Trust
 

 

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