Set in a corridor space at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, curatorial intern Lucinda Bennett’s exhibition, "Loveliness extreme", plays with the idea of sentimentality, writes Shane Gilchrist.
The scenario is not quite kid-in-a-candy-shop, yet Lucinda Bennett admits she was more than a little excited to be appointed the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s curatorial intern in contemporary art.
Before starting the role at the end of March, Bennett had already rifled through (actually, browsed electronically) the DPAG’s extensive collection, making more than a few notes on what she might like to investigate further.
"Partly that was the appeal of doing an internship here: it’s the only curatorial internship in New Zealand that involves accessing a collection. It means you can make these more unusual shows at the DPAG."
The result? As she approaches the halfway point of her tenure, Bennett has brought together a range of art works for "Loveliness extreme".
Set in a corridor space designed by Auckland-based artist Charlotte Drayton, the overall intent is a commentary on the idea of sentimentality.
"It has been quite a collaborative process, Charlotte being involved from the beginning. I knew I wanted to work with her as soon as I discovered that was the space I’d be working in."
Dealing in subtle gestures and clear clichés, "Loveliness extreme" seeks to reveal sentimentality where it is hidden in plain sight, Bennett says.
"I had written about Charlotte Drayton’s work a bit so I knew it quite well. This show deals with a more sentimental aspect than she would generally approach within her practice.
"She does these installations in which she tends to reference quite specific New Zealand suburban architecture or interior decoration. For example, if you go to someone’s house, you might see the types of blinds or vinyl flooring being exhibited.
"The point is, they aren’t special; they’re ordinary. But when you put them in a gallery they are given more attention."
Bennett believes sentimentality is a word which not only describes feelings of tenderness, sadness or nostalgia but suggests an excess of these feelings — an overindulgence, perhaps. As Oscar Wilde put it: "A sentimentalist is simply one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it".
"Loveliness extreme" is formed around and within Drayton’s large-scale architectural work Held Past Close (2017), which serves to domesticate the gallery space, slowing down the viewer, altering their experience of the space and the works placed within it.
Doorways, both arched and rectangular, have been specifically built, as have ordinary-looking architraves and skirting boards. Add to these marble-textured vinyl flooring and the environment has been established for a play on perception.
Into this atmosphere, Bennett has found objects and artworks from with the DPAG’s collection, putting them together to "interact and speak to one another in different ways".
"Dealing in subtle gestures and clear cliches, this exhibition seeks to reveal sentimentality where it is hidden in plain sight, inviting us to question the power of these feelings and their potential to hold sway.
"Held Past Close frames the other works, although I don’t think the other items in the show originally addressed the notion of sentimentality. However, when they are put together, they start to have this other conversation."
Euro-centric architecture also takes centre stage in Peter Siddell’s eerie A Place to Stand (1978), in which he has piecing together fragments of Auckland’s architecture and landscape. However, while Held Past Close divulges the ways in which nostalgia works to idealise history, A Place to Stand "acts both as a foil and as evidence that nostalgia is a privilege", Bennett explains.
And in Kim Pieters’ Abraham’s Journey — after Kierkegaard (2012), the artist has used pieces of hardboard from demolished buildings as a surface, referencing the language of architecture, "evoking a kind of material nostalgia", Bennett says.
Bennett also throws into the fray L. Budd’s A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose (1996), playing with the notion of a object turned banal through overuse.
"The rose became cheesy a long time ago, used to decorate too many chocolate boxes, sold alongside teddy bears and cheap sparkling wine," Bennett ruminates.
"In recent years, the rose has come back in fashion and can be found emblazoned on anything, from cellphone cases to skate shoes; Gucci even recently produced an entire collection starring the rose."
Likewise, the inclusion of Matthew Smith’s still life Mixed Roses in Two Jugs (1929) — one of numerous rose paintings held in the DPAG collection — highlights the rose as a generic symbol, seemingly imbued with meaning yet immaterial.
The installation and architecturally inclined Auckland artist Andrew Barber has a part to play, too, his patterned canvases, Study (Hydrangeas) (2011) and Study (butch) II (2010), recalling various patterned objects and concepts: tartan picnic rugs, school pinafores, punk (or emo, or hipster) fashion trends, the grid.
"As their titles suggest, they might also allude to the searing blue of hydrangea blooms and the agricultural connotations of Swanndri shirts," Bennett notes.
"These paintings highlight the absolute subjectivity with which value is prescribed to aesthetic forms."
The exhibition
• Curated by Lucinda Bennett, "Loveliness extreme" opens at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery today and continues until October 23.
The intern
• Lucinda Bennett has recently completed her masters degree in art history at Auckland University on the topic of "Intimacy in Contemporary Art". She is also a freelance arts writer, and has written plays and produced and directed for theatre. Between 2012 -2015 she co-founded an independent theatre company called Lucy & Luke Create. Her appointment as DPAG curatorial intern in contemporary art continues until early November.
