Acrylic paint, spray cans, house paint, oil pastel on canvas.
80 x 80 cm
A GENTLE DISTORTION
CALLUM DEED
Hi, I'm Callum Deed, I'm 32, born in New Zealand, based in Brisbane. I am a self-taught artist, high school dropout, ex alcoholic/drug addict with no education.
I started out painting abstract work - fluid, unstructured, and intuitive. That phase taught me how to trust the process, to listen instead of control. Over time, I shifted toward more representational forms, but that sense of emotion-driven mark-making never left. Even now, every portrait carries a trace of abstraction - through colour, gesture, theme or something just beneath the surface.
I paint by feeling - each piece a reflection of whatever storm, silence, or softness is moving through me. Because of that, my style is always shifting, evolving, undoing itself and becoming something new. I love painting deeply, and sometimes I resent how much I need it - but I always return.
I've sold over 100 paintings since taking this stuff seriously since 2019, not as a badge, but as proof that something in this work speaks. If you buy one, you're holding a moment from a lifelong conversation I'll never stop having. I'll be painting until my hands can't hold a brush - and probably even after that.
Next year, I'm aiming for my first solo show and plan to pursue artist residencies around the world. I want to create in unfamiliar places, meet strangers, make art in strange lighting, and let all of it shape what comes next.