Roger Mortimer has been described as a contemporary visual mythologist. In his paintings beauty and barbarity combine as he grapples with the timelessness of the big issues of history and humanity.

With this exhibition Roger continues his distinctive exploration of imagery drawn from illustrated manuscripts of the 14th century Dante poem 'Divine Comedy' which details the poet's journey through the inferno of hell, to purgatory and potentially paradise.

The medieval graphic imagery, set on a backdrop of New Zealand marine charts, resonates powerfully with contemporary global issues and turmoil to suggest both psychological and political readings and the human capacity for both evil and redemption.

The exhibition comprises six new paintings including one 3.2 metre triptych which is his largest painting to date. All works are water colour, gold dust, charcoal and acrylic lacquer on canvas.

Roger Mortimer has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts at Auckland University. In 2014 he won the Paramount Award in the Wallace Art Awards. He has since had two sell out exhibitions and his work is included in public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia and France. In 2017, a survey of the last 16 years of his practice will open at Pataka Art Museum on 26 February and at the Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland in July.

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