The Folk — acrylic on 3D print
Painter · Illustrator · Author · Masterton, Aotearoa The Folk — acrylic on 3D print, 2025
NZ Book Awards 2026 Left to Nowhere — Shortlist
"The best picture book I have seen in a long while. A message for everybody who is human." - Bob Docherty, Bob's Book Blog

In an unfamiliar, post-industrial land, the inhabitants get carried away with their celebrations and destroy something essential to their world. Only when the last one is gone do they understand what they have lost.

A universal tale about appreciating what we have. A springboard for conversations about care and conservation. Not entirely for kids.

Left to Nowhere cover
Publisher
OneTree House
Ages
4 and up

Studio

Paintings, sculptures, and illustrations - oil, acrylic, 3D print.

A Little Madness
A Little Madness
Acrylic on canvas, 2026
The Folk
The Folk
Acrylic on 3D print, 2025
Peacemaker
Peacemaker
Acrylic on canvas, 2023
Oberon
Oberon
Acrylic on 3D print, 2024
Ian Chapman portrait

Masterton, Wairarapa, 2024

Ian
Chapman

Painter, sculptor, illustrator, and children's book author based in Masterton, in the heart of the Wairarapa. Working across oil on canvas, acrylic on aluminium, painted 3D sculpture, and picture books that are not always just for kids.

My paintings sit between the funny and the unsettling, ordinary things in quietly absurd situations. I have been at King Street Artworks for thirty years, and the local creative community has always mattered to me as much as the work itself.

Selected exhibitions
2025 Creature Comforts Zimmerman Art Gallery, Palmerston North
2024 A Midsummer Night's Dream Zimmerman Art Gallery
2022 Desperately Normal Zimmerman Art Gallery
2020 Gravity Sucks Zimmerman Art Gallery
2019 A Song for the Uncoordinated Aratoi Museum, Masterton
Get in touch
Contact Ian ->

Enquiries about originals, prints, exhibitions, or the book.

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