Megapolis (1992) by Douglas MacDiarmid

Human forms seen in a context of confining walls whose dark recesses channel doubtful air enough to maintain interdependence and create beauty of rhythm. The Megapolis series is a further variation on one of Douglas MacDiarmid’s main preoccupations – the human form – shown in Paris during November 1992 as his first home exhibition at what remains his current Montmartre address.

As the painting notes relate, his figures here exploit the rhythmic contrast of the body against architecture at once mythic and futurist. ‘His use of acrylic allows for tonal modulations and movements of colour contributing positively to the balance of the whole,” art historian Dr Nelly Finet wrote. ‘This alliance of technique and subject matters produces a vital expression of natural forces. From the Greek heritage comes the need to go beyond simple representation towards a probably inaccessible universality, the constant current underlying MacDiarmid’s work.’

“Here after a hellava house move, the work of turning this place into a temporary gallery is like a picnic,” Douglas wrote to a friend. “I wish you could be here to see it – the trouble of it all has been well worthwhile. I wake up each morning delighted.”

That architectural background is a story in itself, from earlier times when Douglas was aiming to diversify his skills by experimenting with the possibilities of new acrylic resins as a sculpture medium. Although he couldn’t get the cubist results he was looking for, and his sculpting aspirations abandoned, that initial creative impulse found another more evocative form.

In Douglas’ hands, each Megapolis painting takes on a life of its own, from the initial sketch to the eighth and final vision. And, as it happens, the wheel has turned full circle, with the original pen and ink drawing recently reincarnated in New Zealand as the cover image of In the mirror, and dancing, an inspired creative blend of 85-year-old New Zealand Poet Laureate CK Stead’s new verse and 94-year-old Douglas’ line drawings.

The hand pressed, limited edition volume, created by artist and traditional printer Brendan O’Brien in Wellington, was a sell-out for the Alexander Turnbull Library as a literary collector’s item.