Born in Auckland in 1950 Gavin Chilcott attended Auckland Technical Institute in 1967 followed by three years at Elam, School of Fine Arts, Auckland, from 1968-1970. His first exhibition was at the Barry Lett Gallery in 1976 and since then he has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and Internationally. He has been a recipient of numerous QEII grants and is represented in all major New Zealand Collections. His works on paper bags span the bridge between art and object, addressing the ethos of the preciousness of art. They are designed to be hung on pins, unframed, and are available as single works or suites of 5 bags that are up to 3 metres in length. Artists Statement I'm not sure when I started painting on recycled bags, previous to them I had bought a big roll of heavy brown packing paper to work on and really liked the look of the paint on the brown paper. The first ones I did in the early 1990s. Perhaps it started with the end of the roll of packing paper. It was in 1994 whilst living in Switzerland that they really took off. They work well as objects. I like the found-object/ recycled / folk connotations of the bags and their obvious landscape formats and universality. Contrary to usual practice, in my opinion they lose something when framed. I suppose they test the market a bit. In a similar way to my preference for unstretched canvases in my early days painting, they require a bit more commitment from the viewer.