Erin Driessen takes a look at the latest exhibitions around
Dunedin.
Kathryn Madill, New Paintings,
Inge Doesburg Studio and Gallery
Poetry is ever present in the work of Kathryn Madill, and her exhibition of new paintings at Inge Doesburg Studio and Gallery is a prime example.
Fourteen small works are painted in layers of thin oil directly on to books; these are literally, painted stories.
Madill has a strong, ongoing interest in narrative, seen in her previous work, which has included collaboration with authors.
With these new paintings, she is author and illustrator.
Single motifs and the same human faces appear several times; there is a sense of the intimate and personal.
These works would be just as beautiful on their own; however, one senses they belong together.
Blue Mary 1 and 2 both show a female body with face and feet obscured, painted in the middle of a two-page open spread.
Words including roses, ruins, ashes and slashes run down their torsos.
The Song of Love 1 and 2 show small figures, one in a lit-up window, the other in a doorway.
They are surrounded by a forest of black and green grass blades, some of which morph into tiny human bodies.
The title, The Valley, has been cut from a book and glued on to the work; the artist's name is also glued on, having been signed elsewhere.
These paintings are each their own piece of a longer, intricate story.
Ann Robinson, "Celebrating the
Recession", Milford Gallery Dunedin
Ann Robinson's glass work is nationally and internationally renowned.
The pieces which compose "Celebrating the Recession" at Milford Gallery combine the trademarks of her previous work to create a bright and beautiful, consummate exhibition of new works in cast glass.
The title of the exhibition is both clearly Robinson's humorous nudge at our recent economic times, and a guide to understanding her work.
Clarity and elegant simplicity of form are synonymous with Ann Robinson; here, she combines her treatment of shape with a strong use of bold colour.
The golds, reds, blues, greens and browns are luminous and seem to chime together within the white room.
Robinson's pieces are of New Zealand: Flax Vase, Nikau and Scallop Bowl are perfectly at home, their forms and colours directly taken from local flora and fauna.
Agathis sits in the corner, back-lit by the window.
Green edges and a deep-red middle mix to appear an earthy brown in shadow, but against light, the vase, with its full fern pattern, shines.
The leaf pattern appears several times across other pieces, in spirals, triangles and parallel lines.
Landscape Bowl could very well be a thick chunk of hillside excavated from Central Otago or Canterbury.
Its vessel shape invites us to cup it in both hands; to hold a piece of the land.
Miguel Angel Rios,
"White Suit" and "On the Edge", Dunedin Public Art
Gallery
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery currently displays two video installations by Argentinian artist Miguel Angel Rios, the first showing of his work in New Zealand.
The action of White Suit begins as a man enters, lifts two ropes with meat on each end, and begins to swing them as he tap-dances.
Suddenly barking dogs enter the frame one by one until the dancer is surrounded.
He continues to dance as the dogs become more and more agitated, teased by the swinging flesh.
This work is extremely confronting as the sounds of tapping shoes and barking dogs echo each other and escalate.
On the Edge consists of black and white spinning tops which dance across two alternately black and white screens.
We see the tops, which never fall, from different angles and distances.
Though the movements and paths of the spinning tops cannot be fully anticipated or controlled, these scenes appear performed and highly orchestrated: a result of Rios' meticulous editing.
Though designed to be an overwhelming sonic and visual experience that surrounds the viewer, On the Edge is disrupted.
The gallery has used their available space as well as possible; however, the surrounding noise from White Suit and another artist's audio exhibition distracts from the potentially fuller experience of this second video.
Still, Dunedin viewers are very lucky to have the chance to see these unique works at our major gallery.