Name: ART MAKES ME HAPPY
Start: 2025-03-17T12:00:00+13:00
End: 2025-03-23T15:00:00+13:00
Location: Thistle Hall Gallery

ART MAKES ME HAPPY! A 20-year retrospective by DANIEL PHILLIPS
Thistle Hall Gallery 293 Cuba Street Wellington / Poneke 17 – 23rd March 2025
Daniel Phillips is a 51-year-old artist based in Lower Hutt, Wellington.
Daniel is a person with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) living his absolute best life as a hugely prolific independent artist. When asked why he loves to make art so much his reaction to that is “art makes me happy!” This is clearly apparent in how confidently Daniel knows his craft, never stopping to churn out vibrant upbeat works day after day.
Daniel has a particular love of travel and visually records his weekends spent on planes, buses, trains, ferries and cable cars. He knows exactly the times and numbers of the modes of transport he uses. He loves to save money from the sale of his art to go on big journeys like ship cruises and flights to Europe to travel on every type of transport he can.
Daniel is a totally committed artist and has an extensive array of works exploring different techniques. His strong sense of design takes the viewer on a whimsical ride full of bright colourful swirls and magical twists and turns in paint and pen. Daniel also loves portraits, particularly in pastel, and will be engaging in some live portrait action on opening night.
Daniel’s exceptional talent has been fostered through frequenting Creative Spaces in the greater Wellington region such as Vincents Art Workshop, Pablos Arts Trust and MIX - Connecting, Creating, where he has attended religiously 3 days a week since 2011. Daniel has built a following, and his colourful, charming artworks are in collections over Aotearoa and abroad. Last year, at the MIX Annual Art Exhibition in he sold 100% of his art off the walls. He also received highly commended awards in the Muriel Hopper and IHC Art Exhibitions.
This is Daniel’s first solo exhibition of a collection of works from the last 20 years.
We hope you can join us on opening night. Please encourage your whanau, friends, community and anyone else you think might enjoy Daniel’s art to come along too.