Craig Couzens said he became an artist in his seventies after various careers, one of which was being a fighter pilot who spent most of his the time in the ‘training world’. 

“I taught people how to fly,” he said. 

“I was posted in Wagga in the 80s where I spent a couple years as the commanding officer of the base squadron.”

When Mr Couzens’ children got to the critical stage of their education he made the decision to retire in Wagga. 

“It was a dramatic move, but a very good move as it has turned out,” he said.  

“I was also the executive of the Wagga Chamber of Commerce.

“After lots of other things in the business world I retired and at the age of 72 decided I wanted to learn about art.”

Three years later, Mr Couzens has a second exhibition opening at the Wagga Art Gallery. 

“The overtones of the artworks is about the way the world is going, we are getting overpopulated, we have climate change problems, we have water issues and more and more times we are crowding ourselves,” he said.  

Mr Couzens increasingly questions how his emerging understanding of light and its impact can be best interpreted and represented in his work to reflect not only the images he sees, but also the feelings the spaces imbue within him.

Previously he has mostly worked in monochromes, but now he has also added the dimension of vivid colour giving extra drama to any sunset, building or sand dune.

Craig Couzens: The Mystery will be officially launched on Friday June 8 at 6pm, in the E3 art space at Wagga Art Gallery.

The exhibition will be on public display from Saturday June 9 until Sunday June 17. 

Mr Couzens will be at the exhibition most days and encourages any viewers to come and have a chat.

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