Barry Lett is an important figure in New Zealand’s art history as a pioneer art dealer and leading artist. His recent art represents his personal, environmental concerns, and familial life.

As a mural painter at Nga Tapuwae College Lett met Maori carvers who exposed him to wooden sculpture, and fuelled his interest in this media. As well as Maori carving, Lett is influenced by nature, he was also an assistant to Pat Hanly, whose legacy is apparent in Lett’s vivacious palette and gradual reduction of form.

Lett’s sculptures are rendered in bronze ana a combination of natural materials, namely wood and stones gathered from the New Zealand coastline. Lett’s paintings and sculptures can be found throughout New Zealand’s most important public collections including the Auckland Art Gallery and Te Papa Tongarewa.

Recently Lett has concentrated on his Dog Series, each of which reiterate his concerns for protecting what is dear: “they are guardians,” he says, “of both people and the environment.” The dogs each represent ideas he has explored throughout his career; specifically guardianship, colour and simplification toward two dimensional form.

The theme of guardianship emerged following the birth of the artist’s first child, when domicile subjects made their way into his compositions. In the mid 1990s Lett explored naïve forms rendered in assembled relief paintings on custom wood. Three dimensionality prevailed in the earlier pebbled dogs, which have since been reduced to stylised geometric forms that result in “a thoroughly minimal yet enigmatic and comic work.”1

1. Kim Atherfold ‘Triumph for the Mahurangi Group at Scott’s Landing’ New Zealand Art Monthly March 2003.