The Artist is an exhibition of 20 portrait works created through a collaborative Performance Painting process that challenges traditional notions of portraiture and authorship. Developed during residencies at Dunedin School of Art (2024) and Te Atamira (winter 2025), the series invites artists from diverse creative fields to become co-creators rather than passive subjects, making visible the often unseen labour and contributions of creative practitioners in our communities. Each portrait emerged as a conversation between painter and participant, exploring questions of what it means to be an artist and who gets recognised as one. The work celebrates the people who enrich our world through their creative practice – poets, musicians, photographers, ceramicists, chefs, architects, and comedians – shining a light on the meaningful work that often goes unacknowledged or taken for granted. By disrupting the traditional artist-subject hierarchy, The Artist asks us to reconsider how we value creative labour and who we consider worthy of artistic recognition.

Exhibition images courtesy ©David Oakley 2025