Author(s): Vincent Ward

General

This large-format art book features the transformative and moving works of contemporary artist and filmmaker Vincent Ward. Filmmaker and artist Vincent Ward has a reputation for creating powerful, haunting and deeply affecting images. His films are widely acclaimed for their painterly aesthetic, the origins of which can be traced back to Ward's studies in fine arts (Ilam). His compelling cinematic work has received recognition at both the Academy Awards and the Cannes Film Festival. If his beginnings in fine arts have informed his films; today, it is his depth of experience as a filmmaker that underpins the visual language found in his art works. While directing the film What Dreams May Come (1998), Ward and his team developed an innovative motion painting technique. The aesthetic tracks moving paint on film, and this synthesis has provided a platform for his extension from cinema to art gallery. Ward has had a great solo exhibition at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Another two exhibitions will open at leading public galleries in New Zealand: Gus Fisher Gallery and TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre in July 2012. For these shows, Ward has stripped his cinematic work to its essence and re-imagined it with a range of new painting, film and photography that explore the cusp between these media.