Kirsten Lovelock Paintings | New Zealand Art

Kirsten Lovelock

PAINTER / WELLINGTON

BIO

About Kirsten Lovelock

Kirsten Lovelock is a Wellington-based artist with roots in Dunedin. A self-taught painter, she creates evocative works that bridge personal memory, dreamlike states and the metaphysical, letting images and symbols emerge organically. Since her first exhibition in 2003, her paintings have entered private collections in New Zealand and internationally.

Drawing on surrealism, symbolism and post-war New Zealand landscape painting, Kirsten conjures otherworldly realms, childhood narratives and layered identities. Her work has been described as dreamlike, with symbols taking on lives of their own and guiding each story as it unfolds.

Kirsten’s creative process is instinctive, akin to automatic drawing or painting. She begins with a blank board and allows images to materialise without deliberate intent. As a work evolves, meaning begins to surface, though its origins can remain mysterious even to her. Her paintings reflect fragments of personal history, literature, music and broader cultural undercurrents, woven through the subconscious. Resisting a single interpretation, they invite viewers to bring their own narratives to the surface.

Beyond painting, Kirsten is a researcher, social anthropologist and author, and these disciplines inform her artistic vision. Her series The Yellow Brick Road emerged from her time living and conducting research in the United States, becoming an exploration of national myths and collective memory.

Browse Kirsten’s available paintings below, or enquire about a piece.