{{Short description|New Zealand artist}} {{for|the American football player|Donald Driver}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} thumb|Don Driver in his New Plymouth studio, 1990 '''Donald Sinclair Driver''' (1930–2011) was a New Zealand artist born in Hastings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/6113119/Controversial-artist-dies|title=Controversial artist dies|website=Stuff|language=en|access-date=2019-09-26}}</ref> Driver was self-taught and worked in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, collage and assemblage. His work was often recognized for its use of everyday or vernacular materials.
Driver is associated with New Plymouth, having moved there with his family in 1944. He was educated at New Plymouth Boys’ High School and worked as a dental technician during the 1940s and 1950s before a lengthy period working at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (1969 to 1992). His 1966 mural commemorating the 1933 trans-Tasman flight of Charles Kingsford-Smith featured at New Plymouth airport from 1967 to 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/110566697/councillors-updated-on-don-driver-airport-mural|title=Councillors updated on Don Driver airport mural|website=Stuff|language=en|access-date=2019-09-26}}</ref> Driver's sculpture ''Cats'' was installed in New Plymouth's Pukekura Park during the 1960s. In 2013 a replica of the work was installed in its place.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ketenewplymouth.peoplesnetworknz.info/heritage_sites_and_features/topics/show/2096-don-driver-cats-sculpture-19602013|title=Don Driver "Cats" Sculpture - 1960/2013|last=Ron|website=ketenewplymouth.peoplesnetworknz.info|language=en|access-date=2019-09-27}}</ref>
Driver's work often attracted controversy. In 1967 his sculpture ''Magician'' was removed from the New Plymouth public library one of the library committee complaining that, "the real trouble with the work is that it could not be ignored."`<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 October 1967 |title=Editorial |work=Taranaki Herald}}</ref> In 1981 the National Art Gallery in Wellington commissioned Driver to produce an installation. The resulting work, ''Ritual'' (1982), consists of ten 44-gallon drums topped by children's dolls with goat-skull heads holding pitchforks, all mounted on a cart. The work attracted criticism for its bad taste and embrace of the occult. In 1983 following its own display of the work, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth tried to acquire ''Ritual'' for its collection. The acquisition proposal met stern opposition from civic council politicians who objected to the offensive nature of the work<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 November 1984 |title=Driver work in bad taste: councillor |pages=3 |work=Daily News [New Plymouth]}}</ref> and ultimately failed. ''Ritual'' was subsequently acquired in 1989 by the National Art Gallery (now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa). At the time National Art Gallery curator Robert Leonard described ''Ritual'' as "one of the most controversial and despised works of New Zealand art history".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Farrar |first=Sarah |date=2013-06-01 |title=Rites of passage: public response to Don Driver's Ritual (1982) and its institutional history |url=https://tuhinga.arphahub.com/article/34204/ |journal=Tuhinga |language=en |volume=24 |pages=49–64 |doi=10.3897/tuhinga.24.e34204 |doi-access=free |issn=2253-5861}}</ref>
In 2013 filmmakers Paul Judge and Bridget Sutherland produced the documentary ''Don Driver: Magician''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Don Driver: Magician|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3716532/|access-date=2019-09-27}}</ref>
== Selected works ==
* ''Large Brass'' 1966 [https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/3400/large-brass view] * ''Flyaway'' 1966-1969 [https://govettbrewster.com/collection/70-7 view] * ''Own Drum'' 1967 [https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/24457/own-drum view] * ''Horizontal Relief'' 1973 [https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/12766/horizontal-relief view] * ''Blue and Green Pacific'' 1978 [https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/43269 view] * ''Yellow Tentacle Pram'' 1980 [https://collection.dunedin.art.museum/objects/5398/yellow-tentacle-pram view] * ''Produce'' 1982 [https://govettbrewster.com/collection/82-16 view] * ''Ritual'' 1982 [https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/40799 view] * ''Yellow Skin 9'' 1984 [https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/39285 view] * ''Screen'' 1985 [https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artwork/18938/screen view] * ''Duraband 3 (Blue tarpaulin with Green Tape and Some Yellow and Blue)'' 1986 [https://collection.sarjeant.org.nz/objects/45167/duraband-3-blue-tarpaulin-with-green-tape-and-some-yellow-and-blue view]
== Collections == Don Driver's work is held in public collections throughout New Zealand.
* Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/40799|title=Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz|access-date=2020-01-11}}</ref> * Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth * Auckland Art Gallery * Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui * Dunedin Public Art Gallery
== Solo exhibitions== * 1999 ''With Spirit: Don Driver a retrospective 1965 - 1998'', Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth * 1997 ''Driver Works from the Barr Collection'', Dunedin Public Art Gallery * 1996 ''Circular Planes'', Loppdell House Gallery, Auckland * 1994 ''Sculpture, Hangings and Collage'', Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart * 1993 ''Don Driver in the Round'', Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui * 1993 ''From the Last Ten Years'', Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt * 1988 ''Boxes,'' Wellington City Art Gallery * 1988 ''Fifteen Years'', Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton * 1987 New Collages, Taranaki Museum, New Plymouth * 1986 ''Driver: Works from the National Collection'', National Art Gallery, Wellington * 1979 ''Don Driver: 1965-1978'', Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth * 1977 ''Don Driver: 1971-1977'', Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth<ref name="Spirit">{{Cite book|title=With spirit: Don Driver, a retrospective.|last1=Driver|first1=Don|date=1999|publisher=Govett-Brewster Art Gallery|isbn=1869534042|location=New Plymouth, N.Z.|oclc=42976941}}</ref>
== Group exhibitions== * 2013 ''The Obstinate Object'', City Gallery Wellington * 1997 ''Sharp & Shiny'', Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth * 1987 ''When Art Hits the Headlines'', National Art Gallery, Wellington * 1983 ''Installation'' ''Art'', Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth * 1978 ''Mildura Sculpture Triennial,'' Mildura, Victoria * 1971 ''Ten Big Paintings,'' Auckland City Art Gallery * 1969 ''International Biennial'', Tokyo * 1951 ''Rutland Group'', Auckland City Art Gallery<ref name="Spirit" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Driver, Don}} Category:1930 births Category:2011 deaths Category:People from Taranaki Category:20th-century New Zealand artists Category:20th-century New Zealand male artists