Art seen: July 11

Fishfish, by Richard Killeen. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

(Brett McDowell Gallery)

Richard Killeen is back with an exhibition of new work at Brett McDowell Gallery. The artist’s eccentric but attractive work continues to slowly evolve. Using his standard array of computer-generated images, the artist works by the power of juxtaposition, the creation of narrative and mystery through the close arrangement of individual shapes and objects within his electronic collages. In the latest display, the inkjet-wrought objects become containers, housing entire universes of smaller items. Implied light effects and the internal reflection of the base aluminium surface give the external framing objects a three-dimensionality and add a gentle sheen to the worlds they contain. The amalgam of assorted items forms the artist’s coded symbolism, one that he freely admits is influenced by a long-time interest in the ideographs and hieroglyphs of ancient script. A distinct ancient Egyptian flavour is conjured in a few of the works, most notably those where birds and cats are central elements. The works are clean and direct, yet the temptation to create stories from the neighbouring elements gives them an air of mystery. Coupled with the occasional archaeological aesthetic transported to a clearly 21st-century technology, the pieces become fascinating futuristic or alien artefacts.

As Is by Unna Pumjan. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

(RDS Gallery)

RDS Gallery is now presenting a group show of sculptural work by five recent graduates from the Dunedin School of Art, curated by Scott Eady. The linking element in the works is the love for the materials used, all of which are either recycled or natural. The pieces become statements on impermanence and also our connectedness with our environment. Raina Mackenzie Mapel’s wall hangings are a case in point. The artist has created soft grids from recycled exercise books, the rigidity of study turning into a more malleable grid by which to measure our world. Harriet Hawksworth’s supple rimu installations bridge the gap between living trees and our use of timber. The pieces have a lightness and grace somehow reminiscent of late Dunedin sculptor Peter Nicholls, as are Kāhu Kaan’s beautifully carved solid yet ocean-like black wooden surfaces, each pierced with glittering pāua nail. The exhibition is completed by two ceramicists. Mona Bekhit, whose hanging forms suggest sprigs of pine tree, accompanies her work with a soundscape. The ceramic works add to this with their own stoneware chimes. Perhaps the most instantly accessible pieces on display are Unna Pumjan’s miniature figurines, each expressing a violent emotion. Humorous yet poignant, these miniature Munch “Scream”s inhabit their own wonderful, terrible world.

Ice Across the Escarpment (storm light) — part 1, by David Ryan. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

(Fe29 Gallery)

Fe29 Gallery is also hosting a group exhibition, this time by several well-established artists. David Ryan is represented by numerous works in oil and in mixed media. The oil abstracts are sumptuous works, but perhaps more intriguing are the “Monochrome Secular (The Sefton Line)” works, small postcard-like pieces on paper, each accompanied by a heavily coated wooden block. As with Ryan, Ron Left is new to Fe29. Also exploring an abstract field, the artist’s acrylics range from the colourfield “Recto Verso no. 5” through to explorations of paint and form in his large-scale “Fenestra” works.

The late Philippa Blair is better-known by Fe29 regulars. In this show she is represented by two three-dimensional works in unstretched canvas worked heavily in oil and acrylic, and by a more subdued but impressive lithograph, “Temple”. These works are a foretaste of a solo exhibition later in the year, as are a series of fine works on paper by Robert Macdonald, whose works range from the powerful watercolour and crayon “Taranaki and Snow” to the evocative etching, “The Shearing Shed”. The display is completed by a small series of intriguing works by Ina Johann which use dye paint and ink overlaid on a photographic base to create collage-like organic forms.