Jo Ogier, "Huia's Lament", The Artist's Room
Environmentalism and commercialism come together in "Huia's Lament", an exhibition of woodblock prints by Jo Ogier on display at the Artist's Room.
Ogier states explicitly her concerns with ecology and conservation, and how human beings can nurture their fragile world.
She seeks with her work to promote public awareness of endemic species of flora and fauna in New Zealand.
The other side to her work visible in this show is the human tendency to view animals, specifically birds in this case, as commodities.
Two works, Wattles Saddleback Soup and Reischek's Kokako Soup, are done in a Pop-art style, the obvious allusion being to Warhol's Campbell soup series.
These works posit the saleability of the saddleback and the kokako in word and image.
They go one step further in suggesting the birds are also the soups' ingredients.
The Huia and the Gun shows two huia perched on a rifle, also named Huia.
The birds stand against a green, fern-patterned backdrop and look out of the frame towards the base of the gun.
The branch of their native habitat has been replaced by the means of their death.
The push-pull effect in Tree Fern gives the illusion of movement.
Ogier has captured New Zealand's flora and fauna in still images, in order to give pause and reflection to their real-life existence.
John Ward Knox, "ush", Dunedin Public Art Gallery
John Ward Knox plays with one of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery's walls in a new work that relies on the limitations of our vision.
"Ush" consists of three pins, which seemingly dangle a carved curtain across the wall.
Plaster has been added to the white wall in ripples so that the curtain seems to be formed of the wall itself.
This work is neither painting nor sculpture.
Knox himself has labelled it an alteration to existing architecture.
In its successful trompe l'oeil, the work speaks to one traditional role of the artist: to create fantastically realistic illusions.
As Knox especially chose the upper north-facing gallery for this work, it would be very interesting to see how different it looks as changes in natural light occur.
As I sat at midday, the work seemed to come straight out of the wall; or, as I changed focus, retreat straight back in.
The latter gave the illusion of depth, which caused me to wonder what was behind the curtain.
There are tantalising connotations of something covered or hidden, and curiosity is only heightened by the seemingly incomplete or part-only title of this work.
This work is described as deceptively simple, which is unarguably accurate.
The more time you spend in front of the curtain, the closer you look.
Steven Ting, "Street Photography", Nectar Espresso Bar + Café
Winner of the 2009 Ronald Woolf Young Photographer scholarship, Steven Ting presents "Street Photography", showing at Nectar Espresso Bar + Café.
The café atmosphere is a perfect setting for this exhibition.
After his training in digital photography, Ting turned back to black-and-white film, his preferred method of capturing the lives of people around him.
In this series of images, familiar Dunedin scenes are depicted along with more generic shots of people in the city.
Ting exploits the light and dark effects of black-and-white photography, to his advantage.
Shadows are used particularly well to contrast the sharpness of sidewalks, benches and buildings.
Particularly appealing in these works is the impression of shared viewpoint.
Many photographs are taken from behind a sitter (so the back of their head is in the foreground), so we as viewers share in their experience of the scene in the background.
Ting identifies not only what is seen, but who is seeing.
Ting takes a wide look at the community, photographing activities of the young and old alike.
Some images are sparsely detailed, relying on light and dark contrasts for their impact.
Others show the hustle and bustle of city life: in one image, a man sits and watches as blurry people hurry by.
Ting has managed to home in on the fleeting, random moments that are so important to the whole experience.
