(Olga)
A visit to Europe has been the inspiration for an interconnected series of gouache paintings by Pippi Miller.
The spirit of a continent still recovering from its deep 20th-century divisions, especially visible in and around Berlin, is noticeable in these works which hover on the boundary of mythology and modernity.
Several of the pieces have a memento mori feel, with the spirit of death in the air, but it is the sense of urban surrealism which comes through most strongly.
These are dream images, with semi-nudity unquestioned, angels and carnival outfits accepted as the norm. Like scenes from a film (Wim Wenders’ Himmel Uber Berlin pair, Wings of Desire and Faraway So Close are clear touchstones), each image connects or foreshadows the next. Graffiti in one image refers to the title of another, posters on walls echo images elsewhere in the exhibition, and in Family Portrait characters from all the images come together en masse.
Miller paints well in a deliberately flat, pseudo-naive style, and the dream essences are well documented. There is an occasional feeling that image and style are too close to their external inspirations, but the overall effect is well executed and the works have charm, whether they be the Goyaesque Death Becomes Her or the tongue-in-cheek symbolic eroticism of Cupid.
(Brett McDowell Gallery)
There is a similar studied pseudo-naivete about the works of Joe L’Estrange. The artist’s profuse gardens are beautifully presented as obsessively observed blocks of detail and colour, dense constructions of leaves and blooms positioned against a flat black backdrop.
The plants are painted from nature, albeit as individual blooms rather than in situ within a garden, and are depicted in all their glory, complete with any blemishes of faded bloom or frayed leaf that may occur. The feel of spring fills the gallery, with the strong blues and purples occasionally tempered by the inclusion of creamy jonquil or daffodil.
There is careful composition in the pieces, whether in the overwhelming blue of hyacinths gently offset by contrasting daffodils, or the halo-like structure of Anenomies [sic] drawing attention to the leaves and shoots which become a secondary focus of the work.
The paintings work on two levels, presenting universal subjects but also being works in which giveaway clues (such as the sprouting weeds of images such as the pre-
Raphaelite-like Lily) give an indication to horticulturalists that these works are set within the local surroundings of southern New Zealand.
L’Estrange’s retirement from work will hopefully allow her more time to produce further gems such as these pieces and her equally impressive Dunedin townscape paintings.
(Blue Oyster Art Project Space)
"He Hokinga Mahara", the latest exhibition at Blue Oyster, is a work grounded in family and whanaukataka. The title takes in concepts of memory and recollection — to use another te reo term, maumaharataka.
The title is perhaps most apt for the linen hanging primarily by Georgina May Young. The stitched design of "Whakatiputipu" represents daily life activities related to nurturing both of nature and family.
Strands of worked houhere hang as a piupiu from the base of the work. Digital projections of the changing days and seasons by son Rocko Neon Young Norling are overlaid on the fabric, accompanied by a soundtrack by partner Sean Norling.
Melanie Tangaere Baldwin’s "Ahikāroa!" is a shrine to fire goddess Mahuika. It recognises both sides of the deity, life-sustaining and destructive. The epic LED and fabric centrepiece is flanked by digital video which includes the artist’s daughter Āio. The soundtrack is provided by Toki, the other of Melanie’s offspring.
The title, literally "The long home fire", symbolises a continued burning of hearth fires, symbolically referencing presence on the land.
As in the wartime song, keeping the home fires burning symbolises continuation of life in the face of life’s travails. In the acknowledged pun, Mahuika’s fire becomes whaea, a nurturing elder. Mahuika shows her sweeter side as an Antipodean Hestia, goddess of hearth and home.
By James Dignan
