Art seen

"Bok a chi in 3D", Rohan Wealleans (Brett McDowell Gallery). 

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For regular art gallery attendees who are used to Rohan Wealleans' large three-dimensional works, their surfaces marked with patterns like tree rings probing through multiple layers of paint, the artist's current exhibition, at the Brett McDowell Gallery, may come as a surprise.

Despite the exhibition's title, all the works are gouache and pencil images on paper. The pieces were created by Wealleans during a recent sojourn in Asia, and each bears the winking message "Made in Taiwan" across its base.

The paintings depict the flowing curves and lines of architecture-like structures in strong tones of blue and brown over an undecorated backdrop.

Although the works are ostensibly flat, the title is accurate - there is a strong sense of depth in the mathematical frameworks presented.

Starting with the motif of a string of beads, Wealleans has built up his fractal-like structures and geodesic lattices through the careful application of layers of paint.

Gouache, with its tendency to re-soften and flow upon the addition of extra paint, must be one of the most difficult materials to use for this task, but the artist has handled the medium well, producing a series of "Aboriginal painting models" which confound the senses and demand some supra-dimensional interpretation.

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"Not afraid", Simon Attwooll (A Gallery)

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In "Not afraid", Simon Attwooll presents a series of bright, energetic pieces on paper. His mixed media works, created from the cultural ephemera of newspaper, magazine, and internet images, are intended, in the artist's words, to "encourage us to explore our current contemporary psyche through [ ... ] the reproduced images it consumes and is consumed by."

While this bold intention may or may not hit its mark, the resulting chaotic melange it creates is certainly both strong and vibrant, and the juxtapositions of images and thoughts within the works does lend them depth.

By using what the artist refers to as the "outmoded technology" of painting and screen-printing, he has created pieces which the viewer can explore at will.

The mind of the artist is - to use the title of one of the works - finding a mess and making it pretty, or more to the point, making it significant.

The addition of black glitter as a reflective material in the works enhances the effect of organised chaos. Its dazzle causes repeated deliberate interruptions to the viewing process and a constant shifting of the light over the works.

The result is that the viewer is forced to repeatedly reassess the created images.

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"Within landscape", Notus (The Art Station)

Notus is a group of textile artists living throughout the South. Their exhibition, "Within landscape", presents a series of hangings, freely displayed in the gallery so the viewer can wander around and between them. In this way, they become the landscapes within which we stand.

Each of the 11 artists is a graduate of the Otago City and Guild stitched textile courses, and each has chosen to interpret the exhibition's title in her own way.

As a result, we are presented with an array of fine work, all of which touches either directly or tangentially on the subject of landscape. Viewers are required to alter their viewing points, looking up at the works which hang from the ceiling.

There are many intriguing pieces.

Some artists have taken the concept of textile hangings to an extreme, as in Ingrid Emerson's Rockfall of cotton thread and teabags, and Sharon Evans' net-like assemblage of macramé plastic bags.

Among the more orthodox textile works, the word-based hangings of Lenore Whyte stand out, as do the rolls of fabric studio snapshots by Diane Lightfoot, and an impressive double-sided piece by Jan Wilson.

Jeanette Trotman's work, perhaps the one to most directly use landscape as a subject, is also eye-catching.