Conscience Tectonique (2011)

This ingenious painting was the cover image of Douglas MacDiarmid’s 2011 exhibition at the New Zealand Embassy in Paris to raise funds for the reconstruction of Christchurch in the wake of the devastating earthquakes.

In a letter to a Christchurch Public Art Gallery curator Peter Vangioni, he explained the painting was an oceanic variation of a series based on his own electrocardiogram readings, when his pacemaker wasn’t keeping the heart rhythm regular.

“I aimed at evoking New Zealand – convulsions & all – looking towards the light, first of countries to receive it. France, like a star conveys it. A drop in the ocean. Obviously, it’s easier to wax prolix (ramble on) than polish shoes..!”



How many countries can you identify in the shifting tectonic plates of the earth’s crust in this painting? There are at least two major ones – the distinctive islands of New Zealand on the left and the outline of France on the right.