The Artist

The Artist, Wallace Trickett, in his Otaki studio
Photo courtesy of Wallace Trickett ©

From his studio near Wellington in New Zealand, Wallace Trickett has won recognition as a noted professional artist, not only in that country but also in Europe (particularly the UK), Australia, Asia and the USA.

For 25 years he was a cartoon artist to various New Zealand newspapers and magazines but retired from that in 2009 to devote more time to his painting. While he paints across all genres, his speciality and passion is transport of all types, particularly ships. His work from commissions is wide and varied, including a series of twenty-two for BP Oil (NZ), and another for Maersk Line, which has one of the largest fleets of ships in the world. The majority of the Maersk Line ships have at least one of his paintings in their interior decor. Wallace’s work has been published extensively and internationally in various books, magazines such as ‘Sea Breezes’ and trade journals plus illustrating several book covers including ‘Sailing the Seven Seas of History’.

His work is exhibited in several New Zealand galleries and there are occasional private exhibitions devoted entirely to his work. His transport montage mural at the Southward Car Museum is the largest such mural in the country. He was mentioned in the 2010 London Battle of Britain Ceremony for two paintings that were commissioned by the family of Air Marshal Sir Keith Park. They depicted the (English) Southern Railway’s locomotive which was named after Sir Keith. A New Zealander, Sir Keith had gained a reputation as a shrewd tactician with an astute grasp of strategic issues, most notably during his command of the RAF’s number 11 Fighters Group in the Battle of Britain. This locomotive had just been restored after being out of service for 45 years.

Inspired by five years as an Engineer Officer with Blue Star Line, Wallace is steadily working through portraying each of the extensive list of ships they have owned since the company was first registered on 28th July 1911. At last count he had completed 109 of them, which are now with various owners around the globe, including this author. His Naval works include the battleship HMS Rodney engaging the German battleship Bismark and HMS Achilles in action at the Battle of the River Plate. Achilles was a sister ship to Ajax manned by a New Zealand crew (Note 1).

Notes:
1. At that time the Achilles was a member of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, manned
    mostly by a New Zealand crew. On 1 October 1941 by a British Order in Council the New Zealand
    Division of the Royal Navy became the Royal New Zealand Navy and thus changed the
    abbreviation HMS to HMNZS.

wallacetrickett@vodafone.co.nz