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Working from his studio at Waikanae beach, artist Turi Park has found, "There's a unique quality of light in the Kapiti-Horowhenua area. It bounces off the Tasman."

Turi paints that light - dazzling, deceptive, dream-like - and especially the way it strikes through native bush, "like the light coming through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral".

To achieve these effects, he uses a unique combination of photography and painting. To produce each of these works, a dozen or more digital images are combined and manipulated, then printed using high-end signwriting technology. Turi then paints directly onto the image using a peculiar range of pigments, including oils, shellac and bitumen. "A series of Renaissance- style glazes and impasto highlights work to catch the light in a certain way."

There is a fragile, fleeting quality to these works, most of which are based on the remnant of native bush around Lake Papaitonga south of Levin, (the setting for the recent theatre production Doctor Buller’s Birds). Turi points out that this is one of the precious few pockets of lowland native forest left between Wellington and Whanganui.

As with Turi's previous exhibition at Idiom last year, these paintings are sold subject to an artist's resale royalty right. Buyers undertake that if the work is resold, a small percentage of the resale price goes back to the artist. Increasingly common in Europe, this system is still rare in this country but Turi finds it doesn't deter buyers. "It shows I’m serious about a career in art, and I maintain a connection with the work."

Contact: www.turipark.com