John Tarlton has spent over forty years working in New Zealand and Australia. Tarlton received degrees in fine art at the undergraduate and graduate levels from the State University of New York at Albany, and also studied for a year with Rudi Gopas, William Sutton and Phillip Trustrum at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1972. In addition, Tarlton holds a Doctorate in Vocational Art Education from Griffith University. Brisbane, Australia. 

His work is represented in several private collections and the public collections of Te Papa, Auckland City Art Gallery, Rotorua City Art Gallery, Waikato Museum of History and Art, Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History Palmerston North, University of Auckland and the State University of New York at Albany. 

Tarlton’s painting and prints fit outside the norm of traditional figurative and landscape motif found in much of New Zealand painting. He sees himself as a storyteller, whose works are organic in their creation. He doesn’t use sketchbooks to develop his concepts. Instead chooses to start with a single image that takes his fancy and then lets the narrative build from there. The stories grow as he makes connections. Throughout the works humour, pun, and satire are used to titillate the viewers reading. 

–  from notes accompanying Tarlton’s exhibition How green was my
Trevally at Te Manawa Museum of Art Science and History (2019) 

© 2024 by John Tarlton. All rights reserved.