Born in Auckland in 1948, Glenys Brookbanks completed a Diploma
in Teaching at Auckland Teachers' Training College before attending
Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating BFA in
1988.
Brookbanks' work is in essence an extension of the Minimalist
tradition, employing the reductionist techniques of U.S. artists
like Frank Stella and Barnett Newman. However, her work is closer
in spirit to that of Agnes Martin, who used the extreme limitations
on palette and structure expected of Minimalism to provoke a
spiritual, rather than intellectual response to the painted
surface.
In works like Brookbanks' Panel; Perforated series, the
repetitive perforations in acoustic hardboard create the structural
basis for
a Minimalist approach, which is repeated through the application
of thick graphite line. This hard-edged style is then humanised by
the soft rubbing of graphite and the painting of tempera on gesso
in a manner that subverts the mechanics of the grid with colour and
curve. As a result, the regularity of line and hole mixed with the
softness and delicacy of palette provides a more organic, tranquil
and meditative quality than one would expect from the traditional
minimalist framework.
Glenys Brookbanks has participated in numerous group and solo
shows and her works are held in various many public and private
collections throughout NZ, including Te Papa Tongarewa and the
Gibbs Collection.