Collection: Dean Wallace

Establishing himself as an artist has been a long and winding path for Dean. Growing up in Hawkes Bay, Dean loved to paint and draw. His career paths have seen him pursuing a Bachelor of Graphic Design and becoming the Creative Director of a design agency he founded with his wife, Melissa.

After over two decades of heading their design agency, Dean and Melissa decided to plunge into a new career path. This big lifestyle change signalled the beginning of Turua Gallery. Thankfully, for Dean, this meant more time to paint!

Dean’s love of still life and nostalgic objects affords him the inspiration to paint daily. Dean captures these subjects in a way that connects with the hearts of viewers. He always found an appreciation of texture, which is evident in many of his works featuring brown paper, corrugated iron, and glass.

Dean's most recent works include a charming fruit series, and a heavily sentimental ‘Sunday Flowers’ series—stunning depictions of the large hydrangea bushes he would see on his Sunday visits to his grandmother’s home in Napier. Each of his pieces possess a magical quality evoking days gone by, which absorbs every viewer.

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