John Badcock
Square Bales, McCully Rd. AM 18-2-24 $6,250 framed Status: Available
John Badcock is a distinguished figure in New Zealand art, recognised for a career spanning more than three decades and a lifelong immersion in painting. Born into an exceptionally creative family, he began painting over 45 years ago alongside his father, respected landscape artist Douglas Badcock, in Queenstown. This early foundation shaped a practice that has since become an integral part of New Zealand’s contemporary art landscape.
Badcock’s paintings are instantly identifiable by their rich, sculptural application of oil on board. His bold, textured brushwork brings extraordinary presence to subjects ranging from windswept fields and delicate seeding grasses to expressive portraiture and intricately rendered Victorian architecture. Each work carries a sense of movement and physicality, as if the paint itself is alive on the surface.
His work is represented in major public collections across the country, including the Hocken Library (Dunedin), Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand Portrait Gallery (Wellington), Aigantighe Art Gallery (Timaru), and Andersons Park (Invercargill), as well as in international holdings such as the Sackman Corporation collection in New York. Throughout his career, Badcock has been the subject of numerous dealer and public gallery exhibitions and has received multiple awards recognising his contribution to the arts.
In 2007, he was selected for the Archibald Salon des Refusés exhibition in Sydney, an acknowledgement of both his technical skill and the compelling emotional resonance of his portraiture. In 2015, theculturetrip.com named him among the Top 10 Great Artists from New Zealand, placing him alongside leading contemporary figures such as Bill Hammond, Jason Greig, and Kushana Bush.
John Badcock’s work continues to be celebrated for its bold energy, masterful handling of paint, and its uniquely expressive interpretation of the New Zealand landscape and people.







