Art Seen: May 12

This week, James Dignan looks at works by Reuben Paterson, Jen Smith, and Laurence Aberhart.

 


Untitled (Blue Kowhaiwhai), by Reuben Paterson.
Untitled (Blue Kowhaiwhai), by Reuben Paterson.
‘‘He Waka Eke Noa'' (Milford Gallery)

It is astonishing to realise how rare major group exhibitions by contemporary Maori artists are. Despite Maori and Pasifika images being major threads in modern Kiwi art, displays focusing on the cream of modern Maori artists are surprisingly rare. As such, "He Waka Eke Noa'' is notable.

Notability is one thing, but the current exhibition is also compelling. The dozen artists speak their own "reo hanga'', a language of creativity that is distinct and fluent. Whether it is the sumptuous granite forms of Chris Bailey or the shimmer of Israel Birch's abstract lacquer and steel, there is a sense of strength and belonging. These artists have created their own place to stand, their own private rohe.

All the works draw in some way upon Pacific tradition, but most interweave European threads as well, perhaps most notably in two remarkable printed portraits of James Cook, imagined as a man and a woman, by Lisa Reihana. Darryn George's mix of traditions is also notable, with a decidedly westernised take on traditional panelling. Understandably, politics simmer under the surface of many works, rising closest to the surface in Robert Jahnke's giant kauri surveying pegs, their implications of land ownership being strong and, metaphorically and literally, pointed.

 


Rob & Kiri, by Jen Smith.
Rob & Kiri, by Jen Smith.
‘‘Transience’’, Jen Smith (Robert Piggott Gallery)

To travel is to let slip the moorings and to leave the safety of home and possessions. By moving out of our cocoon, we allow ourselves to experience life with a raw awareness. This is the subject of Scottish artist Jen Smith's exhibition at Robert Piggott's new Jetty St gallery.

Smith explores transience, and particularly the journey she has taken over the past year from her native land, during which she gathered together the ephemera from which much of the current exhibition is formed.

The gallery walls display photographic evidence of her trip in a series of landscapes and evocative, character-revealing toned portraits of those who have helped her on her journey.

Between these images lie three installations created from materials that are ephemeral yet which are, each in their own way, containers of valuable goods. These items each represent part of the journeying process. An array of sea shells suggests the collections and material fetishes that surround us, yet which are largely discarded during travel. Pages cut from old books convey the intertwined daily stories that bind together peoples worldwide. Most poignantly, a display of eggshells, some painted gold but most left in their natural state, represent the hundreds of people met while travelling, of whom a special, golden few remain lifelong friends.

 


Bank of New Zealand, Clyde, Otago, 1977, by Laurence Aberhart.
Bank of New Zealand, Clyde, Otago, 1977, by Laurence Aberhart.
‘‘Nine Photographs'', Laurence Aberhart (Brett McDowell Gallery)

Brett McDowell Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Laurence Aberhart's precise and haunting photographs of New Zealand. The images are, for the most part, older works, but they are no less worthy of viewing for that.

Aberhart has long been one of New Zealand's finest capturers of small-town New Zealand. His images present a landscape seemingly devoid of humans but redolence with their presence: weather-beaten houses sit empty as if suspended in time, with only the statuary of war memorials and gravestones watching over them. Aberhart's photographs can in subject matter and approach be seen as analogues of the paintings of Sir Peter Siddell, whose works show depopulated towns and cities where the presence of the unseen population only fills the streets with a greater feeling of tension or foreboding.

Aberhart works almost exclusively in contact prints, in which large format negatives are placed directly in contact with the photographic paper. His images thus have a crystal clear sharpness which gives his street scenes an even more unreal, or perhaps hyper-real, air. The photographer has successfully experimented with a range of different chemical solutions in the development of his work, giving the monochrome photographs subtle warmth or coolness by the gentle tinting of the memorable images.

 


-By James Dignan

 

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