SEEN THIS CENTURY
100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists
A Collectors Guide
Warwick Brown
Godwit - $55

This appealing, profusely illustrated and chunky book was launched in great style last night by art historian/author Christopher Johnstone at Webb’s Art Auctioneers in Newmarket.

After the doyen of art auctioneers Peter Webb had welcomed the 200 strong artpeople dominant crowd to his appealing auction rooms Random House publisher Nicola Legat, (how many book launches a year does this woman address?), spoke of the ease of publishing the book with the author being a joy to deal with. She also paid tribute to her colleagues Kate Barraclough who designed the book and Tracey Lowndes who was instrumental in bringing all the images together.
Christopher Johnstone has kindly agreed to make his address available to post to this blog. It also serves as a review of the book and is reproduced in part here for your interest:


"No one has done anything like this before for New Zealand art and Warwick Brown (pic right) is the person to do it. He’s looked at art for a good few decades and has read a lot. He’s made it, collected and dealed it – all good qualifications, but most of all, he’s observed it and studied it and written about it extensively.
His first 100 New Zealand paintings by 100 New Zealand artists established his format and was probably 80% self-selecting. The remaining 20% indicated the catholic and egalitarian side of Warwick’s approach to contemporary art commentary, honed as a newspaper art reviewer.
His second book with its self-selecting title: “Another 100 New Zealand artists” followed only a year later. And this allowed him to range far and wide through all major remaining media besides painting.
These two books present an interesting though pretty much mainstream picture of the New Zealand art world in the mid 1990s.
And now we have “Seen This Century -100 Contemporary New Zealand Artists – a collector’s guide”.

Once again Warwick’s selection largely reflects his response to paintings, sculpture and some photography, mainly because they can be purchased, taken from the gallery and displayed at home. There are some exceptions but as Warwick explains with a good degree of honesty and commitment in his pithy introduction: It’s “Because I believe that the only art that will really last is art that is made to last… My aim has been to discuss work that can be acquired and enjoyed by the average person”.

Now, to Seen this Century
Warwick’s writing style is personal, easy going and conversational and he tries to draw the reader in; he’s an explorer and encourages the reader to look at the works through his descriptions and encourages the viewer to observe, to see things that they might otherwise have overlooked or taken for granted.

Of the book’s 100 artists a fair number are unknown to me, which suggests that it will be a pretty informative book for a wide range of readers. Others will enjoy playing the game of seeing who’s in and who’s not and debating the reasons.

Seen this century is a lively book denoting a lively art scene in New Zealand. And the health of this art scene is I think underscored by the quality of the arts commentary around, including this latest by Warwick.

I am also impressed by the book’s packaging – Godwit has got it just right – it’s cool and modern, more guide than coffee table, practical rather than precious.

I was fascinated by Warwick’s revelation that some artists chose not to be included in “Seen This Century”. It highlights two important things: 1. the book is a collaboration and 2. it is market driven.

First, the collaborative nature of the project.

Warwick first wrote to his long list of artists to ask their permission to be included. Those that agreed had to provide a portrait photo, a brief cv and 3 or 4 good quality photos of suitable works to reproduce to the consistently high level Godwit has achieved. And most importantly, Warwick had a conversation with all one hundred artists.

All of these things may seem simple and straightforward but I assure you they are not.

By market driven I allude to the possibility that some artists might have felt there was some stigma attached to being included in a book subtitled “a collector’s guide” but what artist really doesn’t want his or her art to be collected? I hope those artists who spurned Warwick’s approach now regret their decision given the exciting new talents they would now be rubbing shoulders with.
Warwick has focussed on artists who make works which fit into the established categories of the art market. This is why we are in an auction house and in this sale room in particular because Warwick is a former director of Webb’s.

Seen this century is unique in New Zealand art publishing. It is a daring book to have written but Warwick has never worried too much about poking his head above the parapet.

It is a very New Zealand book: our small population and comparatively extensive but accessible visual arts infrastructure nationwide makes such a survey not only achievable but representative of the best of the new art in these genre today.

Finally, it is not only a beautifully produced book, it is a timely book and, as the publisher at Godwit/Random House, Nicola Legat, has shown in the past, she has an unerring sense of good timing.

Well done Warwick – and Godwit".

And here is senior arts journalist and commentator John Daly-Peoples reviewing Seen This Century in NBR.