Having just had the Guardian list her latest UK show at Fold Gallery as one of the top five in London, Judy Millar is undoubtedly one of New Zealand's most successful international painters. Her work is part of Australasia's compendium of contemporary painters and is scattered throughout museums, galleries and private collections worldwide.

'Gesture' and 'gestural' are vastly overused words in talking about abstract painting but remain unavoidable in talking about Judy Millar's work. As Kundera intimates above, perhaps gestures perform us, rather than the other way around, memes proliferating like living things. Perhaps art is merely a long war to determine who is in charge.

It's frustrating to her, Judy Millar tells me from the West Coast of Auckland as we discuss her exhibition in Zurich, Swallowed in Space, that people are so rarely asking 'what does painting do to us?' [1]. An affective painting, after all, is something we want to go and see, and revisit, and make part of our wider experience. I wholeheartedly...

Julia Morison didn't need to give much thought to whether or not to accept her latest accolade. The Christchurch artist has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours, arguably the highest recognition of a 40-year career. 'Anything that promotes the arts is a really good thing,' she said. 'We have so much...

Hawaii has a population of more than 1.4 million people but not a single museum is dedicated to contemporary art, said Isabella Ellaheh Hughes, a co-founder of the first Honolulu Biennial, which will open in spring 2017. “We can both highlight our tremendous local talent as well as bring in national and international contemporary artists...

2015 marks the 40th anniversary of New Zealand artist Julia Morison's first exhibition. Morison studied graphic design at Wellington Polytechnic in 1970–2 and painting at the University of Canterbury in 1973–5. After showing a number of severely formalist paintings she took a break from exhibiting: from this came two very large, multi-part works:...

The Horses Stayed Behind is an exhibition commemorating the thousands of horses that left New Zealand in World War I, of which only four returned. The centrepiece will be a tapestry, five metres by one metre, made of 500 rosettes, intricately woven in the style of the Victorian hair-wreath. Each of them hand-made by Auburn out of horsehair. Each...

New Zealand's official platform at the Venice Biennale began in 2001, and our formal representation was arguably already overdue at this point. There had been anomalous instances of New Zealanders exhibiting at the Biennale: Frances Hodgkins (she was meant to be in a group show representing Britain, though this was never realised because of World...

In the past decade, acclaimed New Zealand artist Judy Millar's varied work has filled a German gallery with Technicolor tidal waves and unspooled wild brushstrokes across the walls of a Renaissance church for the 53rd Venice Biennale. Always a fan of an enveloping spectacle, her latest show Reverse Cinema at Sydney's Sullivan +...

Since 2007 the Asia New Zealand Foundation has run a programme of residency opportunities in Asia for emerging and mid-career New Zealand artists. An exhibition of works by artists who have benefited from these residencies will be opened at Pataka Art + Museum in early 2015 as part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s 20th anniversary...

A painting of the coastline around Otago Harbour populated by macabre medieval demons and dragons has won the Paramount Award in last night's annual Wallace Art Awards. Auckland painter Roger Mortimer, 58, was presented with the award at a ceremony at Pah Homestead by Auckland Mayor Len Brown. The Wallace Art Awards, supported by patron...

Setting out to design a house like a boat on the top of a cliff, artist Judy Millar purchased a plot of land outside Auckland on the west coast after graduating from art school. Upon four acres, her home, comprised of found industrial materials, overlooks the black sands of Anawhata beach. Known for its treacherous conditions, the beauty...