Gregory O’Brien

B. 1961

Gregory O'Brien, The coastal trade 2022, acrylic on board, 700 x 500 mm $2900

Gregory O'Brien, Akarana; Farewell ye rocks, ye seas and sands 2024, acrylic on canvas, 1000 x 720 mm $4200

Gregory O'Brien, The schooner stops at Avatele 2022, acrylic on canvas, 1300 x 900 mm $8900

Gregory O'Brien, Days of Paperbark and Sailcloth 2022, acrylic on canvas, 1300 x 900 mm $8900

Aviatrix 2022, acrylic on canvas, 800 x 600 mm $3500

The Marvellous Clouds, 2014-18, acrylic on canvas, 920 x 700 mm $5500

Limited edition prints

Limited edition prints with John Pule

Collaborations with Euan Macleod

Artist Biography

Gregory O’Brien, born in 1961 in Matamata, New Zealand, is a Wellington-based poet and painter. With one foot in the literary world, and the other in the visual art realm, Greg has been a prolific and busy presence on the cultural scene for three decades. Between 1997 and 2009, he was curator at Te Whare Toi City Gallery Wellington, and was responsible for exhibitions by Rosalie Gascoigne, Colin McCahon, Fiona Hall, and Elizabeth Thomson, among others. Outside of the City Gallery, Greg has curated other major exhibitions, including Euan Macleod: Painter, which toured nationally between 2014-2018, Kermadec: Lines in the Ocean, which toured nationally between 2012-2016, and About Time: 40 Artists celebrate 40 years, the celebration of 40 years of Bowen Galleries.

Since his first major collection of poems and drawings in 1987, Greg has published numerous books, including poetry collections, such as Whale Years (2015), books for young people, such as See What I can See; New Zealand Photography for the Young and Curious (2015), and books about the visual arts, such as Don Binney: Flight Path (2024), which won the Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. He also authored Euan Macleod: The painter in the painting, a monograph focusing on fellow Bowen Galleries artist, Euan Macleod, which was published by Piper Press, Sydney in 2010.

Greg has exhibited his visual art at Bowen Galleries since 1990, both solo and in group shows. Like his literary work, Greg has many strings to his bow when it comes to his visual practice. He is primarily known for his paintings, awash with colour, strong lines, symbolism, and storytelling. However, he also has a fruitful relationship with master printmaker Michael Kempson at Cicada Press, University of NSW, Sydney, with whom he has produced numerous engravings. Collaboration has become a centre-piece of Greg’s creative process – frequent collaborators include Euan Macleod, and Niuean artist and poet, John Pule, with whom Greg has produced over 80 editioned etchings since 2010. Greg’s artworks can also be found on book covers in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Holland, and Russia, and his design graces the windows, and paper bags, of Unity Books Wellington. His work is represented in numerous major collections around New Zealand, including the Hocken Library, Otago University, Dunedin; the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; the University of Auckland Art Collection.

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

  • Wrapped, 2023
  • You won’t believe your eyes…a visual miscellany, 2023
  • About time, 2021
  • Wrapped, 2019
  • A whale of a show, 2013
  • A working kitchen, 2010