Art seen: Fine composition and excellent technical skill

James Dignan takes a look at the latest exhibitions around Dunedin. 

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"An American index of the hidden and unfamiliar", Taryn Simon (Dunedin Public Art Gallery)

Taryn Simon's views of hidden America can best be described as a form of psychogeography.

The artist, through large photographic images, presents an unseen country, as surprising as it is dark and foreboding.

The works are of the highest quality, and the photographer's skill at spotting the poignant is married with an excellent sense of composition and fine technical skill.

In a series of some 30 works, all created using a large-format view camera, Simon presents essays of places behind the doors marked "No unauthorized personnel" - among them medical facilities, prisons, and military sites.

The artist has produced a David Lynch-like America where the unexpected is frequently surreal but more often disturbing; images of deep lush forest sit close to a group photograph of Ku Klux Klan members and an image of the "outdoor recreation pen" of a death row prisoner.

Many of the photographs seem to have loneliness or helplessness as a central underlying theme.

Memorable images include a basketball practice area deep within an underground nuclear bunker; a poignant, beautifully-composed portrait of an actress paid to act as a test case for medical student diagnoses; and the brutal loneliness of a captive white pointer shark, looming from inky black waters.

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"Duel exhibition", Greg Lewis and Tim Chapman (31 Moray Place)

Sharks also feature in an exhibition at the former Peter Rae Gallery space at 31 Moray Pl.

The artists, Greg Lewis and Tim Chapman, have both concentrated on small paper works in graphite and watercolour.

For Lewis, this is a change from his better-known large oils, though the subject matter - the shapes and forms of machinery and the people who work with it - is familiar.

Lewis has taken as his theme the love of speed and of speedway, and has used found photographic images for his depictions of car and man.

The soft watercolours are surprisingly effective for a subject which might have been worked in brash acrylic tones.

The resulting images are character studies of form in faded-photograph colours which will likely be used as the basis for larger oil works at a later date.

Chapman's pictures sit in informal opposition to Lewis's.

Various themes permeate the works, most notably Jacques Cousteau photographs of sharks, viewed as conquering, conquered and - in one memorable piece - as a headless illustration on a torn book cover.

Other motifs include confrontations between motorcycle gangs and authority.

A third theme, which contrasts with the other more realistic images, is a series of effective white and red geometric abstract "practice pieces".

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"Summer show" (The Artist's Room)

The Artist's Room's summer show is a fine eclectic mix from many of the artists represented by the gallery, and includes numerous items which have not previously been shown.

It is a busy, wide-ranging display, with many standout works.

Among the pictures on display, many of the finer pieces are landscape or nature studies.

Works of particular note include tree-filled images by Heather Maxwell, Steev Peyroux, and Sam Foley, an attractive leafy work by Sheryl McCammon, a haunting landscape by Liz Rowe, and a shimmering clifftop seascape by Richard Hansen.

Other notable pieces include several "birdand egg" compositions by Jane Crisp, rail-yard studies by John Toomer, some excellent graphite works by Geoff Williams, and a cryptic monochrome group portrait by Thomas Elliott which dominates the gallery's main room.

The pictures are interspersed with small sculptural and ceramic pieces, including a charming surrealistic piece by Tanya Blong and some head-and-shoulders busts by Margriet Windhausen.

Stars of the show, however, are Nick Dryden's three "Commissioners", life-sized oxidised copper shags, spreading their wings from the top of totara posts.

These works beautifully capture the attitude and appearance of these ubiquitous seabirds in salty blue-green and burnished copper.