New paintings from this veteran artist, who,  in his early beginnings trained under Toss Wollaston and now at sixty years of age himself appears to be his natural successor.

Showing the same expressive hand and tonality he came to know and love from Wollaston, Madden says he has never forgotten the lessons he learnt. “I could never have chosen another path, I’ve had to remain true to that central Toss vision; that the eye must observe long and hard before the hand starts to draw… let alone paint.”

To this end Madden spends long days on Auckland’s wild west coast, Whatipu to Karekare and Piha. The constancy of observation, the long emersion in the dark and rugged landscape, that and only that can produce the results. The  dramatic changes of light, cloud, sea colour, the unending tonal varieties of the hills, all is crucial to his understanding and feeling for the place.  “The long way is the hard way,” is a saying John has adopted as his own