Dutch Artist Finds N.Z. Good To Work In

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30528, 25 August 1964, Page 16

Dutch Artist Finds N.Z. Good To Work In

The interest in art in New Zealand compares favourably with most othet countries, according to the Dutch-born artist, Kees Hos, whose exhibition of etchings and relief prints opens this afternoon at the Durham Street Art Gallery. Mr Hos, who came to New Zealand eight years ago, said yesterday that he found New Zealand an excellent country in which to work. “There is a certain amount of opposition, but every artist should expect that—in fact it is necessary for his work,” he said Arists who complained about the artistic climate in New Zealand would soon find —and indeed often had found —thrt things were just the same, and usually more difficult, overseas. “In the final count it really doesn't matter where you work. No country is isolated today. It is what you are doing that matters.”

Mr Hos, who studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Hague, has exhibited in Holland, Sweden, Japan, Poland and the United States of America. Although this is his first one-man exhibition to be held in Christchurch, he has held three such exhibitions in Auckland, two.in Wellington and one in Dunedin. Of his work he says, “My aim is to explore the expressive and creative potential of print-making, and at the same time to explore my own creative abilities. I am trying

to build a bridge between certain ideas, feelings, experiences, impressions and the means and media of printmaking. On the subject of New Zealand art, Mr Hos said that it would be an excellent thing if national characteristics should be developed, but most artists realised that this must happen as a natural result of their work and could not be forced. Maori themes were attractive, he said, but were really part of a different culture and far removed from the experiences of most New Zealand artists.

Mr Hos, who lives in Auckland, is married with two children.