Moments of immersion _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

Born in Cape Town, artist Sean Beldon began painting in the mid-80s, citing impressionism, cubism, fauvism, and expressionism as his early influences, as well as J. M. W. Turner, Edward Hopper, and Pierneef.

“It was a tumultuous period in Apartheid South Africa – a fertile ground for artists,” Beldon says. “I developed my style with mainly symbolic, storytelling subjects. In this time, I also studied printmaking and photography”. Painting, however, became his preferred medium, allowing him to scale form and colour, though photography, sculpting, and drawing remain inseparable companions.

In 2007, Beldon relocated to Aotearoa, where, inspired by compositions and scenes captured through road trip photography, he began painting landscapes. “My colour evolved from an African palette to that of Aotearoa,” he adds. “I now find myself in the happy union of landscape painting and sharing my stories through my narrative art.”

His latest showcase The long white cloud at Exhibitions Gallery from the 15^th of May to the 7^th of June, is a “selection of places with a unique New Zealandness about them – starting off in the Hawke’s Bay, dipping through the Central Plateau, and ending on the Cook Strait ferry”.

“I love the way the Aotearoa skies and clouds enhance the landscape,” Beldon says. “It gives it depth, nuance, and at times an ethereal quality. Then there are the cobalt blue days that can make the tussocks shimmer in the hills or low clouds that brush the surface, leaving a slither of bright light in between. Some days are beige, and your flat white is not quite a double shot. Then you have electric moments where you can taste copper on your tongue. Painting is like that to me. At times a struggle against the ordinary blandness – then in a moment of immersion, it pours out.”