In what is likely to be his last South Island exhibition, Whakatane artist Jonathan R. White's (72) Heart in the Wilderness exhibition features 40 framed landscape paintings , on exclusive display at the newly launched Mountfort Gallery, on Earl St.
The southern vistas range in price from $8950 to $60,000 for a piece titled After the Cascade Muster, which depicts weary riders heading towards Arawata River Bridge, near Haast.
Gallery director Richard Blakeley said this week he and White had shared a passion for the great outdoors for 30 years.
They previously collaborated for a "virtually sold-out" exhibition of his works in Tauranga in 1999.
White exhibits online, his work included in international collections, and he has established art-world contacts, so he did not need to exhibit in a gallery. A public display of his works was a rarity, Mr Blakeley said.
The exhibition was a "thank you" to the southern people who introduced the artist to their favourite places in the wilderness and opened their homes to him, during his 45-year career.
"Tourists come [to Queenstown] and see the landscape and, to see it portrayed on canvas, people would like to take a piece of New Zealand back with them. Once one of these pieces goes off shore, it promotes New Zealand in a very strong light," Mr Blakeley said.
"I see Queenstown as the New Zealand centre for representational art and there's been a resurgence of interest in that genre.
"The wheel in art does turn, as in any industry, and there's strong interest in representational work, especially of this quality."
Mr Blakeley launched Mountfort Gallery on Monday last week.
