Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, by Ralph Hotere.
James Dignan take a look at new art exhibitions showing
in Dunedin and finds works ranging from the grand scale of
cartography to the microscopic level of the cell.
Charting the Peaceful Sea: Maps of the Pacific 1642-1846",
Reed Collection, Dunedin Public Library
The current Reed collection exhibition highlights the beauty
of the art of cartography.
The early maps of the Pacific on display will be of interest
both to lovers of history and the arts.
The early exploration of the region is elegantly documented
in the map of the southern hemisphere, which identifies the
different routes taken by Captain Cook in his voyages.
Captain Cook's map of New Zealand from his first visit in
1769-70, published in Sydney Parkinson's Journal of a Voyage
to the South Seas in 1773, is remarkable for its accuracy, as
are many of the maps on display.
He famously confused Stewart Island with a peninsula and made
the opposite error with Banks Peninsula, depicting it as an
island, but it was an impressive achievement nonetheless.
Despite having been cast adrift by his mutinous crew, Captain
William Bligh managed to produce a detailed map of his voyage
to safety.
All this appears in his very own copy of the book about the
journey published in 1790, which has apparently been in New
Zealand since 1863.
Alongside the map the viewer can read part of Bligh's account
of the event.
The exhibition will close at the end of the month, but it
will no doubt be replaced by another celebrating a different
facet of our rich collection.
"The August Invitational", The Artist's Room
There is something to suit every taste in the eclectic mix of
work in this "invitational".
Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, a lithograph from 1986 by Ralph
Hotere makes a powerful political statement.
It is one of the many eloquent works he has produced
throughout his career in protest against injustice.
Here Hotere commented on French nuclear testing in the
Pacific and the French bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in
1985.
The work features the Christian symbol of the divided heart
surmounted by a cross.
Overhead a black rainbow, a common Hotere motif from this
period, encloses the image and below the heart the text
BLACK RAINBOW is inscribed to reiterate the point.
The work of two artists who share an arguably undervalued
medium and an interest in history really stand out.
Greg Lewis has mined his grandfather's war photographs to
produce images that evoke the fragmentary sketches possible
for artists in the field.
In the two smaller works he has used old paper to strengthen
the historical associations.
The influence of well-known New Zealand painter Michael
Shepherd seems evident in these beautifully realised
drawings.
The other artist whose interest in local history is likely to
appeal is Odette Seagar.
Her drawing of the Octagon is detailed and carefully
rendered.
I have long been a fan of Alannah Brown's meticulous
depictions of the insect world.
The three works on display here are small in scale and use a
triptych format.
"Bloom", Robert West, Moray Gallery
Locally-based artist Robert West is clearly fascinated by
symbols and signs.
Many of the works in "Bloom" at Moray Gallery have a runic
quality.
The three small Sybil works truly seem like a language, with
symbols repeated in various combinations. The works for which
the exhibition was named convey his interest in scientific
images.
Bloom I and II look like algae represented at a microscopic
or cellular level.
These works certainly resemble the most common floral
interpretation of the term bloom, with their circular form,
central focus and irregular scalloped edges.
They are also, however, indicative of the less welcome algal
bloom now choking our once-pristine waterways.
The problem is hardly limited to New Zealand as we recently
saw in the images of the enormous clean-up in China prior to
the Olympics.
Perhaps West is suggesting that while we criticise pollution
elsewhere we turn a blind eye to local problems.
These unusually-shaped works have an appealing texture that
is highlighted by the way they have been mounted.
West explores the unexpected and reflects on the instability
of human experience.
All the works are collagraphs made with cardboard plates, a
technique he has chosen for its immediacy.
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