Neil Driver
Plums & Cheese
Acrylic on Board
690 x 640 mm
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Many of the subjects that appear throughout Neil Driver’s paintings are drawn directly from his everyday surroundings. As with the plums in this painting, the fruit in his still life works is often picked from the garden of his Clyde home, where he has lived and worked for more than five decades on the banks of the Clutha River.
That closeness to place is central to Driver’s practice. Rather than arranging distant or symbolic subjects, he repeatedly returns to the familiar: objects, vessels, interiors, and offerings from the garden gathered through daily life, observing them over time with remarkable attention and care. The result is work that feels intrinsically personal, grounded not only in the landscape of Central Otago but in the rhythms of living within it.
Artist Bio
Born and raised in Dunedin, Neil Driver moved to Central Otago in 1975. It is from this land that he derives his inspiration, with its magical light and breathtaking landscapes.
Driver is a painter of light. From landscape to still life, his work evokes serenity, calmness and effortless grace. Painting in a mixture of traditional and contemporary styles that is uniquely his own, Driver often depicts details that are generally overlooked by the human eye. This gifted artist brings life and beauty to the simplest objects, such as a shirt hanging on a chair, a tablecloth or bowl of fruit.