Richard Killeen
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Richard Killeen was born in Auckland in 1946 where he continuesto live and practice. In 1966, he graduated with a Diploma of FineArts from Elam.
Killeen's work is most readily identified by the use of 'cut-outs', which abandon the traditional rectangular painting support in favour of separate images presented independently ofeach other individual emblems painted or collaged on metal or other materials and cut to shape. The 'cut-outs' works are sold in boxes with no hanging instructions other than a small drilled hole, so that when hung they fall at a particular angle decided upon bythe artist - this being the only formal control that Killeen exercises over the arrangement of his work. The aesthetic decisions of hanging, arrangement and the sense of juxtapositionthat defines the work are left in the hands of the owner.
Killeen's earlier works involved a limited palette of colours toenhance the repetitive nature of quasi-primitive symbols drawn from readily recognisable shapes such as weapons, insects, animals andfish.
His exploration of the deconstruction and decontextualisation of language through sign and image has continued to engage the viewer on several levels since his earliest works in this vein.