A look at what's happening in the world of art.
Mexican-inspired
Dunedin artist Kirsten Lovelock has revisited Mexico for her latest exhibition, "Faith".
The exhibition was inspired when Lovelock was living in Arizona last year and travelling across the border into Mexico.
"The works are as much about what I did not see as they are about what I did see," she says. "The Mexico I saw was small-town Mexico; dusty service towns. The vibrant Mexicana trinkets I had hoped to find were nowhere to be seen. This was not what I had hoped for and I now feel quite embarrassed for expecting that it would have been anything but what it was."
"Faith" by Kirsten Lovelock opens at 5.30pm tomorrow at Gallery De Novo and runs till November 19.
Love of Dunedin
Also featuring at Gallery De Novo this weekend is new work by veteran Dunedin artist Frank Gordon.
The two-time winner of the Yellow Pages cover, in 2006 and 2007, has produced an exhibition which reflects his love of Dunedin culture, landscape and people.
"The Flying Poet and Other Stories" features 10 new paintings, packed with Gordon's trademark humour and whimsy, which capture "the wonderful absurdity of being human".
The exhibition opens at 5.30pm tomorrow and runs until November 19.
Heartland performances
Opera Otago visits heartland Otago this weekend.
The performing division of the Dunedin Opera Company will perform a double one-act comic opera bill in Bannockburn and Wanaka at the weekend.
The line-up includes soprano Emma Fraser, mezzo-soprano Claire Barton and baritone John Kiernan-Sear, accompanied on piano by Julia Horsnell and directed by John Drummond.
The accent of the tour is on accessible, fun opera, with the programme featuring The First Bridge to Somewhere, by late Cromwell identity Nigel Eastgate and 1947 Broadway favourite The Telephone.
Opera Otago performs at 8pm on Saturday in the Bannockburn Hall and 4pm on Sunday in the Lake Wanaka Centre.
Tickets are on sale at the Cromwell and Alexandra information centres and Wanaka Fine Wines.
Door sales will also be available.
Opera Otago will also perform in the Mosgiel Coronation Hall at 8pm on Saturday, November 28.
Tickets available from Offens Toys and Books, Mosgiel, and Beggs Musicworks, Dunedin.
Free screening
The latest films by young Dunedin film-makers get an airing at a free screening at Metro Cinema next week.
The films were completed by students enrolled in the 2009 Otago School of Media course, which is conducted by the Aoraki and Otago polytechnics.
Films by diploma students will be screened at Metro Cinema from 11am till 3.30pm on Monday and films by certificate students from 7pm till 10pm. Admission is free.
Focus on photography
Photographer Ross Davidson has opened a new art gallery in Port Chalmers.
The Deluxe Art Gallery will specialise in showcasing works by Davidson and other local photographers.
"With the introduction of digital photography and computers, I am able to explore a very wide range of subject matter and make them into expressive artworks of quality with much greater ease than I ever could achieve using conventional means, such as painting," he says.
"I endeavour to create something that enhances the atmosphere that already exists in the photo, while remaining true to my visual design principles, which I have honed over many years as an artist."
The premiere exhibition is on at the Deluxe Art Gallery in Port Chalmers till November 22.
Tsunami concert
A fundraising concert is being held in Dunedin on Saturday for children affected by the South Pacific tsunami.
A wide variety of music ("From Rachmaninoff to nursery rhymes," according to an organiser, Arnold Bachop) will be presented by local singers, including Helen Scott, Justin Scott, Kathryn Redpath, Darrell Craig-McKenzie, Kay Smith, Nicola Steel, Mike Crowl, Heather Clough, Francis Brodie and Arnold Bachop.
"To the Children" starts at 2pm on Saturday at St Peter's Church Hall, in Hillside Rd.
Tickets are $10.
All proceeds go to the Red Cross Tsunami Appeal.
Fringe applications
It's not too late to act a little crazy.
There is still 24 hours to get funding for your 2010 Dunedin Fringe Festival act.
Artists can apply for funding for the development of new work or to tour a show to Dunedin.
Funding applications close tomorrow, although the final registration date for non-funded acts is November 27.
The focus of the festival is on innovative and original contemporary art.
Grant and venue allocations will be announced on November 20.
Visit the fringe website at www.dunedinfringe.org.nz for more information.
The 2010 Dunedin Fringe Festival runs from March 18 to 28.
