Ted Dutch: Retrotech

Retrotech examines the presence of technology in Ted Dutch’s oeuvre; his fascination with objects and devices of machinery which is evident in his highly stylised, colourful and humourous responses to the anxieties of the twentieth century. With a distinctive style of illustration drawing liberally from cartoons and pop imagery, Dutch’s light-hearted choices in subject matter saw him deftly negotiate these concerns throughout his long career which encompassed painting, printmaking, ceramic sculpture, animation and graphic design.

Although Dutch’s style varied throughout his career, his aesthetic and conceptual interest in technology recurred consistently throughout. The world of Ted Dutch is often populated by broken machinery, impossible monuments, flying machines, industrial activity and busy-ness: a realm where the population of astronauts, technicians, signalers and guards wind the cogs and grease the wheels. The structure of these works has emerged from some of the artist’s earliest artistic experiences, primarily those at the age of 12 when sketching the structural innards of bombed London during the Blitz. However, the prevalence of technology throughout Dutch’s work can only have arisen from the artist’s lifelong fascination with things that tick, whirr and buzz.

After graduating from St Martin’s School of Art in London, Dutch worked for some time as a film animator, an occupation that would later come to inform his illustrative style. However, in accompaniment to his commercial work, Dutch also exhibited goache paintings as a founding member of the Graphic Arts Group. In 1951, at 23 years old, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He immigrated to New Zealand in the same year.

On arrival, Dutch found work as a graphic designer in Auckland’s screenprinting industry. He became fascinated by the possibilities of screenprinting as an artistic medium and from 1962 began to produce fine art screenprints. These early screenprints demonstrated Dutch’s fascination with overtly technological themes, and, like many of his later works, were overlaid with stylised schematic plans which appear to encroach on the subjects of the paintings, expressing an anxiety over the unrelenting technological progress of the period.

Dutch’s willingness to explore new artistic challenges saw his practice expand to encompass other technically-demanding media and processes. Through the seventies, he continued to work with screenprinting as well as returning to painting and graphic design. During this period he also began to produce complex ceramic sculpture. These three-dimensional versions of the figures that populated his paintings and prints grew increasingly refined and achieved international recognition.

Regardless of the medium chosen, the defining feature of Dutch’s work is the quality of his lines, which are simple yet immensely expressive. This is a product of his work in the animation industry, where simple, stylised line work is the key means of communicating emotion and action.

Taking cues from Picasso and Mondrian, Dutch used his playful, cartoonsih style to address the prevalent anxieties of the generation. Ideas of isolation and social tension are frequently suggested, though always in a humourous, sometimes absurd manner. Dutch was keenly sensitive to the complexities of these psychological states. He evoked them effortlessly in his art, but never took himself too seriously, favouring the light over the dark.

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