Donald Sinclair Driver was a New Zealand artist born in Hastings. 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. His 1966 mural commemorating the 1933 trans-Tasman flight of Charles Kingsford-Smith featured at New Plymouth airport from 1967 to 2019. 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. Driver's work often attracted controversy. In 1981 the National Art Gallery in Wellington commissioned Driver to produce an installation. The resulting work, Ritual, 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 and ultimately failed. Ritual was subsequently acquired in 1989 by the National Art Gallery. 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". In 2013 filmmakers Paul Judge and Bridget Sutherland produced the documentary Don Driver: Magician.
Collections
Don Driver's work is held in public collections throughout New Zealand.
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
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 InstallationArt, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth 1978 Sculpture Triennial, Mildura, Victoria 1971 Ten Big Paintings,Auckland City Art Gallery 1969 International Biennial, Tokyo 1951 Rutland Group, Auckland City Art Gallery
