Gavin Chilcott attended Elam School of Fine Arts from 1968 to 1969. He has achieved a strong reputation for his painting and furniture. He emerged as one of a generation of postmodern painters during the 1970s; his first solo show was at Barry Lett Galleries, Tāmaki Makaurau, in 1976. In 1978, he was one of seven painters in the ‘Aspects of Recent New Zealand Art’ exhibition, New Image, which toured Aotearoa. He has travelled and shown widely, including in Australia and New York.
Chilcott’s work has a light-hearted quality, and often recalls patterns from fabric design. He draws freely on both European and non-European cultures and is particularly attracted to the art and design of the 1950s. Instead of embracing high-art, modernist philosophical depths, his painting appeals instead to fashion of many periods, deliberately pursuing a witty and highly informed decorativeness.
