Christine Webster's forte is the photographic exploration of gender roles and sexuality through highly charged, highly theatrical portraiture. Her best-known works are arguably the "Black carnival" series, in which individual figures stand starkly in front of bright black backgrounds.
In "Le Dossier", Webster has moved beyond these defiantly "in your face" protagonists. In this exhibition we see not the actors but their roles, and they are not, for the most part, pleasant ones.
Webster has filled in the gaps, removing the shiny darkness of the possible and replacing it with the dingy, stagnant sets of reality.
There is a conflict of the erotically attractive and squalidly repulsive in these works, setting up fierce yet ambivalent emotions in the viewer.
These works have a strong narrative sense, as though this is a play we are watching. The decay is seen and in some sense even smelt by the viewer, who feels an unnerving sense of being a voyeur of some scene where sordid action has taken place and will do so again.
The works are highly effective in evoking strong feelings, and are also powerful images, each one carefully and precisely composed for maximum effect. These works are not for the faint of heart, but impel you to look.
Nick Eggleston's watercolours are full of humour and life. His "pack of bitches" are literally, not figuratively, just that - a series of intimate portraits of decorated bull terriers, each one revealing layers of character through the designs on its fur.
The dogs are portrayed as heavily tattooed and pierced, causing a brief initial surprise followed by a longer look at the detail and whimsy of their decoration. The tats and earrings make a knowing comment on the acceptance or otherwise of both tattoos and bull terriers - both seen as being indicative of aggression by many, despite most dogs and tattoo wearers being as friendly and warm as anyone else. The designs of the "fur art" depicted also stress this point, with many of them initially seeming darkly sinister, but on closer inspection revealing simply individuality or warmth.
Apart from the images themselves, Eggleston's art is worthy of note for the handling of his paint.
Watercolour is a most unforgiving medium, yet he has controlled it well, building the coloration of the dogs subtly from unlikely primary hues. These colorations are brought into sharp relief by the often hard-edged marks of the tattoos, and the result is a fine array of well-crafted and enjoyable images.
Steph Lusted delves into the dark to bring out the light in her exhibition at Tony Williams' studio. A Wellington jeweller, Lusted is returning to the art form in earnest after two years applying her skills to props for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movies.
It would be easy to describe Lusted's art as goth-influenced, as the coupling of the morbid and the exquisite that is notable in that movement's sensibilities is readily apparent. It would, however, be fairer to consider the works memento mori - not glorifying death but seeing it as an inevitable part of the life cycle.
Lusted's three major items are bell jars and an antique cabinet, each containing miniature tableaux celebrating birth, life, and death. The latter is particularly poignant, with its double-edged image of wreath and life-giving syringe, which could also be read as a poppy and its most notorious by-product.
Alongside are fine necklaces, brooches, and rings, many of which use as a motif butterflies and bees encased in resin. The vanitas theme of the fleeting, dying moment captured is emphasised in these impressive pieces.
The show is complemented by prints by Jason Greig and some fine jewellery of Tony Williams' own creation. These culminate in the gorgeous "Sycamore" pendant and William Blake-inspired black rose choker, "Dark secret love".
