• Ralph Hotere, Brett McDowell Gallery
Brett McDowell Gallery is showing 10 works by Ralph Hotere spanning almost 30 years.
The works, from six different collections, feature examples from some of his best-known series.
In Black Rainbow from 1986 Hotere was responding to the bombing of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior the previous year.
Hotere has long used the shade black both for its visual impact and for its symbolic associations.
The title immediately evokes the violence of the act and its impact.
Three works from the 1980s and 1990s feature the phrase "Black Union Jack", framed as a statement or question.
Hotere manages to convey his opposition to the 1981 Springbok tour as well as the wider local issues it brought to the fore.
The Union Jack is emblematic of our relationship with Great Britain; Hotere cleverly alters it to feature our initials, NZ.
A Black Union Jack?, which was produced for the world premiere of John Broughton's 1981 at the Fortune Theatre, questions not only the rugby union, but colonisation itself.
One of the most interesting works is a proposal for a work that was never realised.
Taranaki Gate Stations (second version) is Hotere's detailed plan for an installation that was to be part of the Govett Brewster's 1981 "Stations of the Cross" exhibition.
Hotere makes the connection to the tour explicit and in the pencil text explaining his plan seems to deliver a barbed comment about those who viewed the games.
Diana Smillie's exploration of the darker side of the human psyche seems to be becoming more and more sinister.
Her zoomorphic subjects are increasingly grotesque.
Red and green predominate in her carnivalesque scenes.
Smillie makes pointed social comment using her hybrid cast of characters.
In Acolyte, the white costume and veil of the female figure and her position next to a dark-clad horse-headed male figure are suggestive of the conventions of bride and groom.
The veiled female figure seems to have cuts on her forearms, indicating self-harm.
In She's earned her stripes the figure has the torso of a woman but the lower body of a tiger.
The work seems to comment on the unhealthy body types of models and celebrities that women try to emulate at their peril.
The feline female figures, which dominate the works, are terrifying with their sharp teeth and wide-set eyes.
They clearly resemble the underfed celebrities whose heads appear unnaturally large in relation to their emaciated bodies.
• "Charles Brasch: A Great Good Man", Otago Museum
As this is the centenary of his birth, we have seen and will continue to see exhibitions and events celebrating the life of Charles Brasch, one of Dunedin's most influential patrons.
The exhibition at Otago Museum reveals his contributions to its collection and his familial connections to other great benefactors of the museum.
It is as a poet and editor that Brasch was best known, as he made every effort to avoid publicity for his generosity.
With other members of his family, Brasch arranged the Willi Fels Memorial bequest in honour of his grandfather, which included more than 300 pieces of Greek pottery and sculpture.
Brasch's personal gifts included many objects acquired during his time in Egypt on an archaeological expedition.
He also gave the museum an impressive collection of pieces by silversmith Edith Morris.
His gifts to the University of Otago library's special collections and the Hocken pictures collection will also be highlighted in the coming months.
"A Great Good Man" ably illustrates how significant private patronage has been in establishing and building our public collections.
