Throughout his life and work, Derek has curiously pursued a multitude of explorative artistic pathways. His artistic journeys have traversed the tactile/painterly, the experimental/natural, and the digital/intangible; whereby the joy of working has taken priority over commercial motives.

Originally trained in Switzerland as a graphic designer, Derek has worked in graphic design and advertising, theatre set design, photography, illustration, and more. He founded and co-partnered a design agency for more than a decade. In 2017 Derek completed a Doctorate in Art & Design at AUT with a series of immersive installations featuring projected imagery. He has published articles internationally on explorative methodology, and on light as a source of inspiration. For the past 10 years, Derek has taught senior college Art, Design, Photography and Architecture. He is co-director of Vivid Ltd, a consultancy for creative projects, tutoring and coaching.

Derek’s current projects reflect on life processes such as transformation, transference, and transcendence – dynamically orchestrating hard and soft materials, making marks alongside those of natural forces, and revealing indistinct moments as timeless concepts. He works across plywood, acrylics, screen-print, cyano-print, and collage.