Julian Dashper has been exhibiting regularly throughout New Zealand since 1980, Australia and Europe since 1992, and across America since 2001. In 2001 he was based as an artists in residence at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas funded by a senior Fulbright fellowship. Dashper’s work from the last 25 years has just been the subject of a major touring exhibition in America, curated by Christopher Cook and David Raskin.
Dashper’s work focusses on the histories, theories and more general or popular ideas of abstraction (in particular abstract painting), conceptualism and minimalism as a working methodology. The geographical positioning of New Zealand globally and how this country receives and disseminates visual information is also a core subject in Dashper’s work. His practice manifests itself in various forms, including paintings, unique photographs of paintings, found objects which he infuses with abstract images, various multiples plus limited edition CD and polycarbonate recordings or impromptu performances he has been involved with or heavily orchestrated.
Dashper is represented in all the major public collections in New Zealand, the MCA in Sydney, the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen, Germany, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Loncoln, Nebraska. the Ulrich Museum of Art in Wichita, Kansas and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.