About

James Watkins is an established and widely collected New Zealand artist, known for his distinctive oil paintings exploring landscape, architecture and cubist form.

Over more than two decades, James has developed a highly recognisable body of work that has attracted collectors throughout New Zealand and internationally. His paintings are held in private and public collections, including museum collections, and continue to be sought after by both established and new collectors.

At the heart of much of James’s work is a fascination with place. New Zealand landscapes, houses and architectural forms recur throughout his paintings, distilled into carefully balanced compositions of light, colour and shape. Familiar subjects take on a stillness and clarity that has become characteristic of his work.

"I aspire to make beautiful paintings, taking particular interest in New Zealand's architectural structures, both historical and contemporary. My works pay tribute to the universal symbol of home as a place of heart and hearth, belonging, happy memories and security."

Alongside his landscape work, James has developed an ongoing body of cubist paintings, using simplified geometry and planes of colour to reinterpret landscapes and still lifes. Rather than a departure, these works extend his exploration of colour, atmosphere and composition in a different visual language.

Trained at Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts, James has exhibited regularly in New Zealand, with work shown through International Art Centre and other galleries. His practice continues to evolve while retaining a distinctive sense of place, composition and style that is recognisably his own.

Exhibitions:

• 2016 | Artist Salon - Group Show

• 2017 | Winter Salon - Group Show

• 2017 | Summer Salon - Group Show

• 2018 | Masters Exhibition - Group Show

• 2019 | Solo Exhibition - James Watkins 'Cubism'

• 2020 | Our New Zealand - Group Show

• 2021 | Cubism - Group Show

• 2022 | Icons of Auckland - Group Show

• 2022 | Cubist 5 - Group Show

• 2023 | Summer Exhibition - Group Show

• 2024 | Beacons Of Light, Parnell Heard Park Public Exhibition

For commissions and purchase enquiries, please contact James directly | jamesw6007@gmail.co.nz | +621 528 186 | Instagram: @james1watkins

Works can also be viewed and purchased through his representing galleries:

International Art Centre | Auckland, NZ

The Artist's Room Fine Art Gallery | Dunedin, NZ | Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair | +64 3 474 1111