Artist Craig Hooker explores new directions in solo exhibition at Fine Arts Whanganui Gallery

Artist Craig Hooker with his oil painting <i>Goldminer's Whare</i> which will be part of the "new directions" exhibition which opens next Friday.

Whanganui artist Craig Hooker's solo exhibition at Fine Arts Whanganui Gallery explores new facets in the painter's work.

"New directions" is a small exhibition of nine oil paintings, some on canvas and others on board, and all reflecting Hooker's keen eye for detail.

"It's a collection of landscapes and 'interior-scapes' I suppose you'd call them," Hooker said.

"More recently I've started painting figures into them. Inside a room or building it's quite lineal. I like the contrast between tones and the form of the natural body. That's something new for me."

Hooker has been painting for most of his life, excelling at art at school and continuing with it as a hobby. He has been painting fulltime for the past five or six years since he retired from his 40-year career as a lithographic printer.

"My style is very representational," he said.

"Everything I do is based on a drawing. Drawing, for me, is where my art's founded.

"I like the traditional, pre-Raphaelite art movement. I'm not into conceptual stuff. I look at what I see and if I can recreate it and get the same vision down on canvas or board, I hope people will get the same buzz that I get."

Hooker, a founding member of Fine Arts Whanganui Gallery, says he aims to paint every day and is surprised how much difference his dedication has made.

"Since I've been painting fulltime, I'm amazed how far I've come even though I've been painting all my life. My dream was always to be an artist."

New directions opens at 5.30pm on Friday, July 12, and runs until August 9.

* Fine Arts Whanganui Gallery, 17 Taupo Quay, is open Wednesday-Friday 10am-3pm, Saturday 9am-1pm and Sunday 10am-1pm.