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Two doors down from a car mechanic and across the road from a photography studio, Jeffrey Harris works and paints. It is his compulsion. Not to paint in his words renders him ‘frustrated and angry and depressed and very twitchy. I have got to work.” In his industrial space, he welcomes me with a firm shake of my hand. Some paintings are encompassed in bubble wrap, others rest uncertainly against the wall whitewashed brick walls. In winter, Harris works in the small office overlooking what only in Summer becomes a work space. For decades now, Jeffrey Harris has been one of New Zealand’s foremost painters. After living in Australia for twelve years, he returned in 2000. Georgie Fenwicke talked to him about life back in the fast lane of South Dunedin.

Going back to the beginning of your career, you were awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1977, what effect did this have on your development as an artist here in Otago?
Well, it was a large studio so I was able to do large paintings whereas before, previously I would usually work in a small studio about the size of this room. So working on a larger scale of works was probably the main thing, but also there was quite a bit of attention on my work. It lifted my profile and I had more exhibitions.
 
What do you think of the artistic community in Dunedin then and now?
Yeah, it was more like a family back then, more supportive; now it is more money, fame-oriented. Fame and money is more, so artists are more, I wouldn't say competitive, but it is different.
 
Talking about the relationship between geography and style, there is a tie between where you are and what you paint, what was it about your move across the ditch that led to such a change in style?
Well, I think I wanted to get away from New Zealand because a lot of my work was autobiographical and based on certain events in my life and I really wanted to make a break away from that. Perhaps it was because I was becoming trapped in a style or people were perceiving me in a particular way.
 
And what did you find in Australia?
I found, it was more open. I found Australia more open than New Zealand, it was more, I guess it was exciting but with everywhere it becomes life going on. You get into a, not a rut, but a sort of, it loses its excitement.
 
One of the influences I was particularly interested in, in terms of your Australian work was the Aboriginal style that comes through, what made you decide to go down that track and what was it about the style that attracted you to it?
Aboriginal art is very spiritual and it is very raw. I have already been very interested in the spiritual and that aspect of it in art and generally. It has a lot of depth and is very strong; a lot of the European stuff is second rate copies of what has already been done.
 
How did you go about acquiring the techniques, were the practices again self-taught or were you instructed by some artists over there?
I knew people, there was a lot of Aboriginal painting over there, but I really taught myself which I have done all my life. When I went to Europe I looked at paintings and when I was in Australia, I looked at and when I was here, when I started I looked at McCann and Hotere. So yeah, I did the same thing in Australia.
 
Talking about your art in practice, how much is pre-planned or pre-conceived and how much is taken to chance in the process of creating a work?
It usually starts with an idea, but it is not totally preconceived. I try to develop it as I go along. So you may start with something, a picture, and it develops as you go along. So it is sort of half and half, it channels out of an idea and the work develops out of doing it.
 
Your paintings and sketches are rendered in a number of symbols, each object communicates certain meanings and they ping off one another, what is it about communicating in this direct way that appeals to you?
It is just, painting is more of just painting, it is a story, I like there to be a whole of things to scan over in a work and I don't know. Once again, it is looking at European painting, British painting, that I have seen in Europe and where they have all that symbolism and there is obviously something there that appeals to me and that I have sort of tried to do in my own way. I have invented my own mythology of some sort.
 
Your body of work is absolutely huge, what advice can you give about action and doing?
I have to make art, it is a compulsion. I wouldn't want to spend a whole day not doing it, I would feel frustrated and angry and depressed and very twitchy. I have got to work. It is just like a drug. You get out there and you start your work and you feel ok, and yeah. It is something I want to do, it is not like I want to put it off until tomorrow, I want to do it today. It is a compulsion and I can't imagine not doing it.