Art seen: March 13

'61: Froanorse', by Richard Killeen

''Random Reproductions'', Richard Killeen (Brett McDowell Gallery)

There is always something of the search for the totem in Richard Killeen's work.

His art often strives to reach for the point at which images transform into an alphabet of coded symbols.

Such is the case with the artist's latest exhibition. In Killeen's first Dunedin exhibition for many years, words and images are bisected and rearranged into exquisite new forms, the symbols taking on new life as they strive for unique meaning.

On first examination of the process used, random generation and printing of combinations from the artist's back catalogue via computer, there may be some belief the exhibition is a cheeky cop-out, a churning out of replicas.

Yet an artist's work is at base the presentation of thought-provoking ideas by way of a controlled medium, and this is exactly what has been achieved.

Furthermore, an inspection of the arrayed works has a dramatic effect.

In the gallery, we are in the midst of an archaeological puzzle, surrounded by random hieroglyphics which capture the mind and set it on the impossible task of interpretation without an accompanying Rosetta Stone key.

Though the method of creation may be unusual, and the material used (laser-printed poster board) prosaic, the finished display is impressive, and the individual works are very effective.

'Untitled', by Zivka Suvic Petrovic

''Texture of the Soul'', Zivka Suvic Petrovic (Mint Gallery)

Zivka Suvic Petrovic's exhibition at Mint Gallery can be described as three exhibitions within one.

The Serbian-born artist has produced a series of fine bold portraits, alongside a series of smaller rugged landscapes and a further series of gentle impressionistic seascapes.

The seascapes are unusual, in that they are painted in acrylic on to exposed photographic paper.

The sheen of the toned paper base shines gently through the horizontal washes of paint that become visual tone-poems, mood pieces capturing emotion at the expense of realism.

Next to these, the small landscapes seem rough and solid. Using a restricted palette and an approach which mixes collage, painting and drawing, Petrovic has created hard blocks of cliff-face under deep molten skies.

The stars of the show, however, are the large portraits.

These close-up forms, created in some cases merely by paint and in others by a combination of drawing, painting and collage, stare out boldly from the gallery walls.

The artist's aim is to lay bare the soul of the sitter, and while not always totally successful in this regard, most of these captivating works do more than just hint at the subjects' innermost thoughts.

The images are striking and many of the expressions haunting.

'When Your Neighbour's Problems Become Your Own', by Cat Auburn

''When Your Neighbours' Problems Become Your Own'', Cat Auburn (Blue Oyster Art Project Space)

Cat Auburn has long been fascinated with the shapes and forms of animals, especially those living on the threshold between feral and domesticated nature.

In her current exhibition at Blue Oyster, her first in Dunedin, the animals are reduced to virtual thought-experiments, spindly stainless-steel frameworks which bear only passing resemblance to the creatures upon which they are based. 

This reduction to a purely linear form removes the creatures from the natural realm and turns them into symbolic, mythological beasts: tall, elegant, and disconnected from reality.

The works are wired to electromagnets, so that one limb of their quadrupedal frames will be pulled at semi-random, creating a vibration and tension within each work.

Wandering between the pieces, one has the sense of being in a herd of wild deer or horses, wary and watching, and poised as if to take flight.

In a smaller second room of the art space, a gigantic bow, arrow nocked, awaits release.

Suddenly, the viewer becomes the hunter.

This, maybe, is what the herd is sensing, though the bow remains silent and still.

The viewer is left to draw his or her own conclusions and narratives about the relationship between the static weapon and the quivering steel creatures.