Gregory O’Brien presents his new book

A Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy

Thursday 5 May, 6:00 pm
Auckland Central City Library, level 2
Join us for a welcome glass of wine at 5.30 pm, courtesy of Glengarry Wines
Bookings highly recommended, phone 307 0209 or email karen.craig@aucklancouncil.govt.nz

Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event.
Artist, designer and illustrator Graham Percy was one of our most talented and original artists. Born in Taranaki in 1938, Percy spent apprentice years in Auckland before moving to London, where with his photographer-partner Mari Mahr he created a workshop-home, a microcosm of the outside world.

This stimulating rediscovery of a remarkable artist is an account of Percy’s life and art through sketches and bookshelves, showcasing his early design work, vivid children’s book illustration and thriving mature art. The drawings reveal Percy’s passion for the small and hand-drawn, for quirky histories and curious characters, from homesick kiwis to Commedia dell’Arte players.

Gregory O’Brien is a poet, anthologist, essayist and art critic. His recent publications include News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore (2007), Back and Beyond: New Zealand Art for the Young and Curious (2008) and Euan Macleod: The Painter in the Painting (2010). He is working on a collaborative book project with Mari Mahr, photographer and Graham Percy’s second wife, and is the curator of a major exhibition of Graham Percy’s art which is touring across New Zealand in 2011-13, opening in Auckland at the Gus Fisher Gallery on May 7th.