JOHN BLACKBURN MBE John Blackburn’s career has spanned parallel paths both in New Zealand and Britain over the last six decades. He has exhibited regularly at ARTIS since 2009, his most recent exhibition was in February 2020. Blackburn’s career began in Auckland in the summer of 1959-60 when he was included in an exhibition, curated by Colin McCahon, at the Auckland City Art Gallery. McCahon had been impressed by what at the time were Blackburn’s boldly avant-garde works – the flamed paint surfaces of his ‘Encaustic Series’. Blackburn returned to England in 1961 and exhibited his work at Woodstock Gallery, London. His lyrical abstract paintings of simple, reduced forms in limited pure, unmixed colours, could easily be appreciated in the context of the British art scene at that time. Blackburn took a hiatus from the artworld during the 1970s & 80s to focus on family life and the launch of a successful business in 1979. It was the chance discovery of some of Blackburn’s works acquired in the 1960s by the renowned collector, Jim Ede for his house, Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, that led to renewed interest in the artist. Blackburn was re-launched back into the art world with a full-scale retrospective exhibition at Folkstone Metropole Galleries in 2006, followed by an exhibition at the prestigious Mayfair gallery of Osbourne Samuel in London. A major exhibition in New Zealand followed at ARTIS Gallery, Auckland, in 2009. Blackburn’s work reveals a remarkably consistent vision and approach. His paintings are unified, both individually and collectively, by the artist’s repertoire of signature forms and finishes. His investigation of the seemingly limitless possibilities of painterly effects, add a sense of lightness and deftness to the works. In his 90th year, John Blackburn still returns to New Zealand to paint a series of works at his Mt Maunganui studio every year.
John Blackburn (b. 1932) Sunset Harmony Oil & mixed media on canvas, 960 x 1550 mm, Signed, dated 19 NZ $32,000.00
BRIDGET BIDWILL To take the simplest elements with a minimal palette and create a series of paintings is a task that has occupied Bidwill throughout her career. Bidwill uses her personal alphabet of shapes, merged with hints of reality (vessels, leaves and bottles) to create works of pictorial eloquence. Their reference to ‘still-life’ is evident, even in the most abstract of her paintings. The artists’ sublime use of colour was initially influenced by her years spent in the Renaissance cities of Europe. Subtle tonalities evoke atmosphere and space, enhanced by the depths of the pastel, or the transparency of oil stick. Bidwill’s recent work is richer in colour, with an increasing use of texture either through painting onto layered or collaged canvas, or onto textured wood panels. The vessels and forms float within the space, but sometimes reveal the layers of work which lay beneath.
Bridget Bidwill (b. 1956) Finestra Oil & mixed media on canvas, 760 x 1001 mm, Signed, dated 2020 NZ $6,800.00
BRENDAN BURNS Brendan Burns was appointed artist in residence at Earthskin, Piha, Auckland in February/March 2020. The exhibition of the works completed during the residency will be exhibited at ARTIS in 2021. UK based artist Brendan Burns works within a tradition of British artists inspired by elemental landscape. Burns is deeply concerned with the spiritual in nature, with notions of time and with the act of painting as meditative process. These ideas are central in the artist’s practice and have played a fundamental part in his recent New Zealand residency. For Burns the language of seeing the world involves the physical act of walking. This translation into paint is critical in his work. Time walking and absorbing the immediate area of Waitakere, Karekare, Bethells Beach, Muriwai and Kitekite greatly influenced the artist’s perception of light and colour. Initial paintings were the joyous celebration of light penetrating the Pohutukawa trees and reflections of more tropical species such as the Nikau Palms in the Kitekite stream near his studio in Piha. Burns has exhibited both in the UK and Internationally, including America, France, Belgium, Australia and Spain. His work is held in numerous private and public collections including The National Museum & Galleries of Wales, The Derek Williams Trust, The Contemporary Art Society of Wales, A Fundacion Casa Museo ‘A Solaina’ de Pilono, Spain and Contemporary Art Society of Britain (Tom Bendhem Bequest), America, Australia, China, Holland, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Mexico, Switzerland, Taiwan and The United Arab Emirates.
Brendan Burns (b. 1963) Orakei Korako Plume Oil & wax on linen , 1210 x 1010 mm, Signed & dated 2020 verso NZ $25,000.00
NIGEL BROWN ONZM What makes Nigel Brown’s art practice so appealing is his direct and personal articulation of the realities of the human condition. He is profoundly aware of the relationship between human beings and their environment. Brown has a systematic and workmanlike approach to painting. He works from an initial concept, which is the result of reading and extensive research. Sketches, photographs and other sources are used as a visual back up to develop specifics, leading to works on paper and trial paintings. The artist works from a gesso ground on which he applies a base coat of yellow ochre. The main ideas and words of each work are then sketched in by brush, followed by the initial lines and tones, and the first of five or more layers of paint. Brown directly and selectively employs history, literature and politics as devices in his artworks. He also uses words in his paintings, a technique that was heavily influenced by the English poet and painter William Blake. At Elam, Colin McCahon suggested that Brown contain his text in a border or boundary, which Brown embraced and continues to use to this day. Brown has received numerous awards throughout his career including; the QEII Arts Council Grant (1981), Inaugural Artists to Antarctica Award (1998) and in 2004 Brown was awarded the ONZM for services to painting and printmaking.
Nigel Brown (b. 1949) Tipping Point Acrylic with mixed media on canvas, 1350 x 800 mm, Signed, dated 2018 - 2019 NZ $17,500.00
RAY CHING Raymond Ching is considered one of New Zealand’s greatest contemporary bird and figure painters. After two successful exhibitions of paintings of natural history subjects in Auckland, in 1966 and 1967, Wellington-born Ray Ching moved to England, where he undertook the herculean task of completing 230 full-colour plates in less than a year, basing his images on museum specimens with input from ornithologists. Published in 1969, the Reader’s Digest Book of British Birds is claimed to be the world’s most successful and biggest selling ornithological book. Working primarily in oils and acrylics, Ching’s works are incredibly detailed with an almost photographic quality. Also renowned for his paintings of animals and humans, Ching places them in a setting that defies the very realism for which he is known. In 2010 Ching ventured into the genre of graphic novels with the first publication, by David Bateman Ltd, ‘Aesop’s Kiwi Fables -Paintings by Ray Ching’. This publication accompanied the first of two exhibitions at ARTIS Gallery. In 2014, ‘Dawn Chorus‘ was published (also by Bateman Publishing) and accompanied another two further exhibitions at ARTIS Gallery in 2014 and 2015. Ching’s most recent book, ‘Aesop’s Outback Fables’, is a limited edition, published in 2018 by ARTIS Gallery to accompany the exhibition of Ching’s Australian fauna & flora paintings. At the heart of all his work to date, is Ray Ching’s great empathy for his avian subjects – those from New Zealand in particular. While a conservation message has never been a conscious part of his work, he has stated his determination to contribute to the raising of public awareness of the precarious state of our endangered birds. In 2011 Ching was commissioned by Sir David Attenborough to produce a painting to illustrate the cover of his book, ‘Drawn from Paradise: The Discovery, Art & Natural History of the Birds of Paradise’. Ching exhibits regularly in New Zealand at ARTIS Gallery. Examples of Ching’s portrait paintings are held in Te Papa Tongarewa, Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the Suter Gallery in Nelson.
Ray Ching (b. 1939) P.182-183 The Poorly Rabbits’ Friends Oils on board, 760 x 610 x 530 mm, Signed NZ $8,500.00
BRONWYNNE CORNISH Bronwynne Cornish’s distinctive figurative works carry a strong sense of both their material and maker, pushing boundaries and perceptions of both contemporary craft and sculpture. Cornish’s approach towards her sculpture has earned her recognition and critical acclaim as a highly influential contributor to New Zealand ceramics and art education. Her work looks at the crossover between animals and people – placing those characteristics in fine balance and emphasising the “wildness” that we have lost in our lives today. Cornish’s ceramics are in major public collections throughout New Zealand and overseas – including The Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Dowse Art Museum Wellington, The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wellington, The Wallace Collection Auckland and the Kobayashi Collection in Tokyo.
Bronwynne Cornish (b. 1945) Cat Mummy Ceramic, 220 x 120, Signed, dated 2020 Series of 5 NZ $1,200.00
FATU FEU’U ONZM Fatu Feu’u is an internationally recognised Samoan-New Zealand artist. He has been pivotal in shaping the interest in contemporary Pacific art globally and nurturing a generation of Pacific artists locally, leading to his reputation as the “Father of contemporary Pacific art”. Fatu has recently joined forces with Specsavers to raise money for The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand. Specsavers have produced beautiful limited-edition unisex frames, with imagery taken from a painting of Fatu’s ‘Rainforest Series’. The frames are due to be launched later this year, in conjunction with Fatu’s next solo exhibition at ARTIS on 25 August - 13 September. Feu’u’s work is inspired by Polynesian art forms such as siapo (tapa cloth), tatau (tattoo), weaving, carving and ceremonial mask making. In these forms he uses a rich lexicon of motifs and compositional structures. His works frequently blend traditional and contemporary elements, incorporating a range of influences, inspirations, techniques and motifs from Samoa and Aotearoa and more generally from Euro-American to Pacific cultures. Feu’u’s paintings, prints, bronze & wooden sculptures and ceramics are held in numerous public & private collections around the world.
Fatu Feu’u (b. 1945) Rainmakers Acrylic on canvas, 1010 x 1010 mm, Signed, dated 2020 NZ $11,000.00
AROHA GOSSAGE (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Ati Awa) Aroha Gossage’s next exhibition is due to open at ARTIS Gallery on 9th June 2020. Gossage’s paintings seek to connect with Tupuna and the past. Her landscapes are located in Pakiri and Hauturu (Little Barrier), physically, spiritually and conceptually. Much of the conceptual foundation of her art Gossage attributes to her mother, and to a childhood spent learning how to live with and from the land – collecting and propagating native seeds, diving for kina and paua, fishing in the river. ‘She gifted me with a childhood living closely connected to our environment in Pakiri,’ Gossage says. Gossage incorporates kokowai (earth) into her paintings, along with oil paints. She seeks kokowai out because of its ‘gentle purity’ in handling as well as its ‘unspoken power’ visually. Gossage collects the medium herself, allowing her time on the land, thinking and exploring. “These rich earth colours you can’t buy in a tube. I know where to go to get rich reds, up by the dam. There are pure whites and blues if you dig a metre down in a special spot under our bridge. The ochres are on the corner by the gravel road up by my auntie’s place, and I find lovely greys at our waterfall‘. The sense of light in her work results from manoeuvring oil pigment on board, to create what she calls ‘soft hazy gradients’. When the paint dries there are unprecedented beautiful effects that happen between the solvent and the pigment that give a likeness of atmosphere within her compositions. The sanding between each coat – to create a fine surface with a silky finish – can also achieve effects like the stippled sky, seen in a number of her compositions.
Aroha Gossage (b. 1987) Primrose Lane Oil on board, 700 x 1200 mm, Signed, titled & dated 2019 verso
At low tide this area is mud - the path where her grandmother used to walk they called NZ $7,800.00
JOSH OLLEY Known primarily for his stunning work carved from stone, Josh Olley creates works expressing his ethical and environmental values. Olley began carving in 1997, while he was living in Wanaka – firstly in bone, and with a strong focus to detail and finish. His passion for larger stone sculpture developed as his abilities evolved. Olley discovered the wonderful quality of the stone that was surrounding him in Otago and over the past years his work has transitioned into mainly large works. He particularly favours Argillite stone for its hard and durable quality – and its ability to hold a fine edge and detail. Josh Olley was an Arts Gold Award Finalist in 2015 and 2017. Over the past four years he has exhibited large pieces in Sculpture on the Shore, Devonport, Auckland and Sculpture on the Peninsula, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury. His work is held in collections in New Zealand and overseas, including Te Papa and The Auckland War Memorial Museum. Josh Olley joined ARTIS Gallery as one of our represented artists in February 2019.
Josh Olley Hang in there Piemontite Stone, 1100 x 800 mm, Signed and dated 2020 Unique NZ $38,000.00
PETER PANYOCZKI Peter Panyoczki is a highly regarded international artist, working in a hybrid of forms and mediums including painting, sculpture, installation, photography and digital technology. He joined ARTIS Gallery in 2017 and has exhibited with us at the Auckland Art Fair in 2018 and 2019. Panyoczki’s works explore complex themes of place and identity, as well as the origins and expression of life and nature. A common feature in Panyoczki’s works is the presence of texture, be it actual surface texture or the representation thereof in photographic media. The textured surfaces are evocative, forming notions of one’s past and inner self, or that which has been buried and forgotten. Over the past years Panyoczki has lived between New Zealand and Switzerland and this is reflected in his work. He completed a three-month residency in Vladivostok, Russia, in 2018 and exhibited at the Beijing Biennale in 2019. Panyoczki has an extensive exhibition history with representation in solo and group exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia, USA and New Zealand.
Peter Panyoczki From the Series: Bright & Dark Mixed media on New Guinea coffee bags, 1070 x 2550 mm, Signed, dated 2020 NZ $18,500.00
JS PARKER ONZM 1944 – 2017 In August 2020, ARTIS Gallery will present a selection of paintings, from the artist’s estate, for a retrospective exhibition titled, ‘Oh No Never Let the Spirit Die’. Born in Auckland in 1944, Parker studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, Christchurch and graduated with Honours in Painting in 1967. In the 2002 Queen’s Birthday Honours Parker was awarded an ONZM for 40 years of services to painting and in 1970 he was awarded the prestigious Frances Hodgkins Fellowship at Otago University. Parker is best known for his large impasto paintings within a grid format, full of texture, rhythm and balance within his imposed framework. He worked in thick layers of paint applied with a palette knife, sweeps of paint, which he pared down to reveal hints of what lies beneath. The sense of an inner radiance in Parker’s paintings allows the viewer to relate to the “spirit” of the painting. Parker always had a spiritual basis to his work and his ‘Plain Song’ series reference the plains of Canterbury and of Marlborough where he lived. “Plain Song – everything has been titled with that name for the past four decades. Not only does this reference my memories of the plains of Canterbury and Marlborough throughout my life, but also my love of music – especially blues, jazz and classical.” Works painted not long before his death, included several of uplifting, joyous colour – a sense of embracing his life to the full, as well as simply riding the rhythms of superbly juxtaposed colours. Parker has exhibited in ARTIS Gallery since 2013. His exhibition ‘Light Plain’ in March 2016 was his first solo show at ARTIS and the painting ‘Plain Song: The Light Plain – Sunlight ‘was purchased by Otago University for the Hocken Collection.
JS Parker (1944 – 2017) Plainsong: Sunlit Oil on canvas, 1220 x 1015 mm, Signed & dated 2017 NZ $12,000.00
ELIZABETH REES Elizabeth Rees is a leading New Zealand contemporary artist with a career spanning nearly thirty years. Rees’ works explore relationships between the body, the mind and the environment in which we exist. Early in her career, her works depicted the human form in motion - moving towards, or away from the unknown. In recent years the human presence is minimal in her moody landscapes that have a psychological element. Rees paints on carefully primed canvases, enhancing the luminous qualities of oil paint. “The most mundane aspects of our lives are often majestic - if we only knew it. We live in such overwhelming beauty and we so often take it for granted and never stop to take it in. Walking dogs on the beach, meeting friends in our extended back yards, participating in the most prosaic day to day stuff - is to participate in a world of natural splendour. My paintings I hope will convey just a thought about beauty - and its omnipresence for all of us here - on our doorstep and fundamentally a part of us.” In 2017 the book ‘Elizabeth Rees - I Paint’, by Don Abbott’, was published. A second edition of this publication is due in 2021, in conjunction with her next exhibition at ARTIS Gallery.
Elizabeth Rees (b. 1959) Encounter Oil on canvas, 600 x 450 mm, Signed, dated 2020 NZ $6,000.00
ANN ROBINSON ONZM Ann Robinson is a leading New Zealand cast glass artist. Her work has been exhibited widely and is held in a large number of prestigious collections worldwide. Robinson’s mastery of the technique has given her outstanding control of the medium and has seen her organically influenced vessels and sculptural forms become increasingly refined over time. She draws on inspiration from the natural environment and incorporates the geometries of seed pods, leaf forms and growth patterns into her cast glass pieces. Sculpted contours, rich graduations of colour and refined surface finishes combine to create commanding works. Robinson attributes her understanding and perception of colour to the sharp, clear quality of New Zealand’s light, and its ever-changing weather patterns. The way in which each of Robinson’s sculptures absorb and emit light transforms these inanimate objects into living things, reflecting the play of light and shadow in the natural world. Her mixture of materials, which includes up to 45% lead crystal, contributes to the work’s luminosity and intensity of colour. Robinson’s works are held in both private and public collections, such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Te Papa, Wellington and the Christchurch Art Gallery. On 10th November this year, Ann Robinson and Terry Stringer will be exhibiting a body of new works at ARTIS Gallery.
Ann Robinson (20th Century New Zealand) Watcher: Treasures of the Earth 45% Crystal Glass - dark olive, 234 x 357 mm, Signed & dated 2016 NZ $45,000.00
The Earth Watcher “The Watcher series of bowls had its inception with the two works “Bowl for Morgan le Fay” that I developed in 2006. Conceived as a homage to the fine Celtic art culture, its vessels and jewellery, a movement of metal smithing which blossomed in Europe from before the birth of Christ and the skills they developed in-setting precious and semi-precious stones. In 2016 I returned to these pieces, feeling that I could explore the work further as it had been such a pleasure to make. From a new perspective I began to see the inset jewels as eyes, searching in all directions. Watching. The watcher (myself). I began to understand. For me I have always believed the practice of art is about understanding the hidden depths of one’s self. Bringing together the themes of planetary over-exploitation, with the chemistry of glass making. Set into the dark earth Bowl, the watcher’s eyes represent dull elements found in the earth that transformed into exquisite colour by chemical reaction and fire. Even now after 40 years of glass making, I still marvel at this magic. The following chemical elements are used to create the coloured eyes of the Watcher: Gold: pink/red Selenium: yellow/orange/ scarlet Nickel: grey, purple Di Chromate: Greens Praseodymium Silver – Ann Robinson. April 2020
Copper: blue/ turquoise Neodymium: Purple pinks Uranium
Cobalt: dark blue Erbium: soft pinks, apricot “
Ann Robinson in her studio
Raw colours for the ‘coloured eye’ inserts
TERRY STRINGER
ONZM
Terry Stringer is a leading New Zealand sculptor and a key figure in the history of art in New Zealand. For decades Stringer has explored the transformation of abstract ideas into ways in which a figure can occupy space, and how “still forms” can express movement. His works appear to be in a state of continual transition, the edges deliberately blurred so that each aspect morphs into another imperceptibly. Stringer delights in creating spatial illusions, testing the dividing line between the real and imagined. He unites multiple elements into a singular sculpture, drawing inspiration from artistic and literary sources. His work encourages the viewer to explore the series of subjects within one sculpture from different perspectives, providing a truly multi-faceted experience. Working predominately in bronze, the majority of Stringer’s sculptures depict figures and still-life subjects. Allusions to his interest in classical antique art and literature can be seen, along with the influence of cubism displayed in Stringer’s faceting and juxtaposition of form. Throughout his career Terry Stringer has exhibited extensively, with solo shows in Auckland, Sydney, Los Angeles and London. He is represented in major public collections, including the Auckland and Christchurch Art Galleries, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Alexander Turnbull Library. His contribution to New Zealand art was acknowledged in 2003, when he was awarded an ONZM. On 10th November this year, Terry Stringer and Ann Robinson will be exhibiting a body of new works at ARTIS Gallery.
Terry Stringer (b. 1946) Candle Holder in the Wilderness Bronze with Electrical Fitting, 1.6 m high, Signed, dated 2019 edition 1/2 NZ $34,000.00
PAMELA WOLFE Pamela Wolfe’s upcoming exhibition, Florophilia, opens at ARTIS Gallery on Tuesday 12 May through to Sunday 7 June. Due to the current circumstances, the exhibition will be available to view online and by appointment. Over her long and distinguished career Pamela Wolfe’s subject matter has varied from highly coloured representations of the local landscape, to detailed still-life studies and then on to what she is so widely known for today – her larger than life, richly textured paintings of flowers over their life cycles. The subtle technique in which Wolfe portrays the fragility of these specimens has been honed over nearly twenty years and highlights the transient nature of beauty. The contrast of the sumptuous blooms in Wolfe’s compositions against the black (and more recently, the grey) textured backgrounds from which they emerge, gives an extravagant sensuality to the works and references Dutch still-life painting of the 17th century.
Pamela Wolfe (b. 1950) Large Yellow Peony & Antirrhinum Oil on canvas, 1450 x 1350 mm, Signed, titled & dated verso2019 NZ $23,500.00
ARTIS Gallery
Contemporary New Zealand Art
ARTIS Gallery has been operating as a dealer gallery in Auckland since 1984. A contemporary gallery with a regular exhibition focus, ARTIS represents a diverse range of leading New Zealand artists, many of whom have achieved international acclaim. Situated beneath ARTIS Gallery is an extensive open plan stockroom and sculpture viewing space. This area, known as the BASEMENT Gallery, provides a wonderful environment for us to show a large selection of our artist’s works in a contemporary gallery setting. Sculpture is a major focus at ARTIS, with the BASEMENT Gallery featuring a large variety of work by New Zealand’s leading sculptors. Large scale new sculptures are also presented for sale on an outside plinth, which is located at the Gallery entrance on Parnell Road.
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Email: artis@artisgallery.co.nz
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280 Parnell Road, PO Box 37673, Parnell, Auckland, 1151 Phone: +64 (0)9 303 1090
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CONTEMPORARY NEW ZEALAND ART
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