ARTS & CULTURE

ARTS + CULTURE UPTOWN ART SCENE

Seldom leaving his apartment, painting supplies hard to come by, danger all around yet hope at hand… while it may have a certain currency to it, this was Picasso’s situation in Paris, July 1944, when he painted Pitcher and Glass, currently on show at Auckland Art Gallery.

One can see the wartime paucity of materials in his painting – the limited palette of dull colours, yet the composition and confidence still seduces a room nearly 80 years on. It’s part of Romancing the Collection that celebrates the re-opening of the Auckland Art Gallery following Lockdown.

The shift in Lockdown allowed Artweek Auckland to have half its scheduled run last month, and a number of artists made the most of the opportunity to show work to the community. Whitespace Director Deborah White may have closed her Monmouth Street gallery, but is regularly organising pop-ups around the central city. She presented the thick, luscious oil paintings of Jack Trolove in Terry Stringer’s Eden Terrace studio, a skylight lit space that allowed Trolove’s portraits to float in the natural light.

A few minutes down the road, Akepiro Street Studios went ahead with their Open Studio. Home to thirteen artists, there was work at various stages of completion on view, including a gorgeous suite of Karley Feaver’s bejewelled birds. Paul Johnston demonstrated his painted sculptures that fold from maquette-type shapes to flatpacks. Laura Williams presided over her peculiar saucy Saints, while the strong environmental paintings of John Nicol were particularly popular with visitors.

Artweek Auckland partnered with Xero to present an online panel discussion, The Art of Business, that discussed issues of sustainable business for artists. The panel consisted of artists Judy Darragh and Evan Woodruffe, Zoe Black, curator at Objectspace, Courtney Sina Meredith, Director of Tautai, Tim Melville, owner of the eponymous gallery, and Amy Saunders, GM of Depot Artspace.

The discussions were impassioned and informed, and although it was clear there was much to achieve to enable a healthy visual arts sector, there was plenty of commitment to changing the landscape in favour of the makers.

This discussion was followed quickly by a record-smashing auction result at Art+Object, with fifteen million dollars of art going under the hammer. With such an unprecedented result sending not a cent to the authors of the work, it seems there is plenty still to talk about.

Pablo Picasso at Auckland Art Gallery

Karley Feaver at Akepiro Street Studios

Jack Trolove's popup at Terry Stringer's studio

EVAN WOODRUFFE, Studio Art Supplies, www.studioart.co.nz

ANDREW PALACE’S METAL AS ANYTHING PRESENTS: 'IT'S SPACE JIM, BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT'

An exhibition of spaceships and out there contemporary lamps…

Once again Christmas comes to Ponsonby Central with an extraordinary and eclectic collection of works by Grey Lynn recycle artist, Andrew Palace - made from brass, copper, glass and stainless steel sourced mainly from the Onehunga scrap metal yard of McCamish Scrap Metal Recyclers with whom Andrew has had a 28 year relationship.

The pieces on show are all one-off, one-of-a-kind artworks that grace homes around New Zealand and internationally. Andrew says that with almost daily announcements of ventures into near-space, and probes into deep-space his works gain more relevance as topical talking pieces and must-have items. From standard lamps to desk lamps, table lamps, and wall plaque feature lamps this show is a must see.

The exhibition runs from Monday 13 December to Friday 24 December. Andrew will be in attendance from 9.30am to 9pm daily at Shop 4A at the front entrance of Ponsonby Central, 136 Ponsonby Road.

There will be exhibition opening drinks from 5.30pm on Tuesday 14 December.

Ponsonby Central’s Covid-19 policy is in order to enter the complex you must be fully vaccinated.

www.facebook.com/Andrew-Palace-Metal-As-Anything-214112178619630 T: 021 592 296