“It is not to be despised in my opinion, if , after gazing fixedly at a spot on the wall, the coals in a grate, the clouds, the flowing stream: if one remembers some of their aspects ; and if you look at them carefully you will discover some quite admirable inventions. Of these the genius of the painter may take full advantage , to compose battles of animals and of men, of landscapes or monsters, of devils and other fantastic things which bring you honour” - Leonardo Da Vinci

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This quotation from Leonardo’s Treatise on Painting has inspired Tony Rice to throw off all the shackles of traditional art and to explore the accidental, either as a point of imaginative departure, or as a means of obtaining finished results.

Careful not to allow his imagery or techniques to become sterile, Tony Rice works in different media, in various sizes, often avoiding traditional painters tools. Although he paints in a purely abstract mode, dealing with shapes and forms , colours and textures, in terms of what they actually are , not what they represent, it is during the process of selection that he creates pictures which echo land, sea and sky.

This Liverpool born artist, now living and working in Wanaka, studied at the Manchester Regional College of Art, taught in England and emigrated to New Zealand.

His work has been exhibited in major galleries in U.K, Europe and New Zealand. British Contemporary Art Exhibition, Northern Young Artists, Liverpool Academy, John Moores Exhibition of Contemporary Art-Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Salford City Art Gallery and Granada T.V Studios in Manchester, CSA Gallery Christchurch and Moray Gallery Dunedin.​