7 minute read
ARTS & CULTURE
EXHIBITION OF THE MONTH @ OREXART
The Limitless Horizon. 11 May to 4 June, Opening 6pm-8pm, Wed 11 May.
Landscape painting in New Zealand is one of our most loved, and enduring subjects. From Van der Velden to Toss Woollaston, Peter McIntyre to Dick Frizzell, Rita Angus to Robin White, these names keep coming up at auction and achieving record prices for good reason. Their work is sublime, the vision extraordinary.
But now we look to the future, the potential of the next generation. OREXART are proud to present works by Richard McWhannell, Tony Lane, Martin Ball, Peter James Smith and John Madden, names you may already be familiar with because their journey has begun, their horizons limitless. PN
Pararaha, 400 x 1000mm by Richard McWhannell
Tokatea, 760 x 1010mm by John Madden
@ ST MATTHEW’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra is live again on Sunday 15 May 2.30pm. Conductor Michael Joel and Soloist Somi Kim @ St Matthew-in-the-City.
Exotic Timbres With Korean born New Zealand pianist Somi Kim and conductor Michael Joel home from the UK we are live – living again. Please join us to celebrate.
Somi Kim has established herself as one of today's most highly regarded young pianists. With a string of music degrees, competition successes and extensive concert experience behind her she has recently been appointed as the pianist with the iconic NZTrio.
Michael is currently music director of St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and has worked on the music staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as duty conductor on productions of Tosca, La Bohème, La Traviata and Carmen, assisting big names like Placido Domingo.
Programme Respighi Botticelli Triptych P151 Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No 5 Op 103 in F “Egyptian” Mendelssohn Symphony No 3 Op 56 “Scottish”
St Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra is an accomplished orchestra performing a wide repertoire of music and is dedicated to providing performance opportunities for New Zealand musicians, composers and conductors. TICKETS Eventfinda or Door sales. EFTPOS or Cash. Adults $30 Concessions $25 Children under 12 free. Student Rush on the day $15. Please note that attendees will need to comply with any Covid-19 protocols in place at the time of the concert. PN
ST MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY, corner Wellesley & Hobson Streets. www.smco.org.nz
Sun 15 May at 2.30pm
soloist Somi Kim conductor Michael Joel
st matthew-in-the-city
Cnr of Wellesley & Hobson Street, Auckland City
@ SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY
Clare Brodie: The Soul of Solitude
With her last two Australian shows selling out in hours, we’re very excited to announce a new show of work by Sydney based painter Clare Brodie.
This beautiful solo show of new paintings is a breath of fresh air, an instant escape from the stress and tension of modern life. They offer the viewer an instant gateway to welcome solitude reflection. Those New Zealand collectors who are lucky enough to already have one in their collections tell us they are much loved works that can instantly set the tone of an entire room.
At first glance, these paintings offer a soft and subtle connection to nature; with each colour exhaustively tested and mixed again and again until the abstracted forms resonate as a unified and powerful whole. But they are so much more. Inspired by Op-art and the colour field painters, these gently abstracted works begin with careful studies of actual landscapes surrounding Clare’s Sydney home. These careful studies - often taken across the span of a few days in the same location - are then transposed from sketches to full works.
We’re honoured to host Clare’s debut gallery exhibition, and it’s worth knowing that all of these beautiful paintings have been created especially for us here in New Zealand.
The show opens on Saturday 7 May, and everyone is welcome to the opening event from 11-5pm. Car parking at the gallery. PN
SCOTT LAWRIE GALLERY, Shed 10, 13 Coles Avenue, Mt Eden, www.scottlawrie.com
HEAVEN ON EARTH
The Garnet Station exhibition “Heaven on Earth” features new works by Lisa Prager. It’s a seriously diverse show that heralds a metamorphosis at Garnet Station with the opening of the George Prager Gallery on Friday 6 May.
Lisa Prager first exhibited over 30 years ago after New Zealand artist Philippa Blair discovered her making wax pop art in the basement studio of the family home in Titirangi. Along life’s path Prager has experimented with different mediums, continuing to express her creative spirit in private, until now. With the sweeping change we have all encountered comes a call, back to the authentic self, and for Prager this means a long overdue engagement with her studio practice.
www.garnetstation.com/events/ george-prager-gallery-opening/
GEORGE PRAGER GALLERY, Garnet Station, 85 Garnet Road, www.garnetstation.com
WAYNE BAIRD AND NEIL FINLAY PLAYING ACOUSTIC BLUES AT GUITARFEST
Back in March local resident Wayne Baird made grown men cry at Guitarfest with the song he sang, “You Can’t Get Back”.
The song was written by Bill Lake and Arthur Baysting, Arthur was a long time Grey Lynn resident and songwriter and author. Rick Bryant another local resident, latterly in the Jubilation choir, last sang the song in the Windy City Strugglers.
Wayne played in Rick Bryant and the Jivebombers for 23 years.
He sang this in memory of Rick and Arthur. Rick Bryant and Arthur Baysting died within three days of each other in December 2019. Most revered local artists. The paper and ink Lion Rock dazzles in west coast seering heat, a synthesis of lived experiences at Piha. Other works with no nonsense names like Nude, Baby, Pool Boys, are simultaneously confronting, amusing and bristling with energy. There is something for everyone, including dining room objects d’art curated by Verity George. PN
Sian Torrington at OREXART
UPTOWN ART SCENE
Fabrics contain plenty of metaphor. For instance, the combination of many individual fibres coming together to make one cloth can represent the Fabric of Life. Clothes are a second skin we don that can express our inner self – “clothes maketh the (wo)man”.
Two artists showing just a hundred metres apart on Ponsonby Road share a common fascination with fabric, patterns and paint, and use their skill to project very different personalities.
Siân Torrington is a Wellington-based artist whose exhibition at OREXART is full of woven objects and collaged paintings, each a warm mesh of energetic lines in pinks, reds and egg yolk oranges.
The sculptural works are a delightful exploration of haptic sensations: soft, warm wools threaded into and around hard, shiny structures, with paint spread as much as a film as a colourant. They seem to be bodily objects, the result of both struggle and joy, dense with the experience of making. Tiny moments of stitched colour join wider pieces of stained and spattered cloth; supple limbs of leather contrast with rigid bamboo bones.
The temperature is cooler at {Suite} where Melbournebased Tia Ansell presents Red Light Horizon. These works form dappled patterns with blues, greens, and browns. Handloomed fabric grids in tight regularity are interfered with by blocks of painted colour that both float on and slide into the woven background. The colour relationships between fabric and paint are precise, almost close enough to conflate the space into an all-over effect, but just enough that the paint hovers slightly above the ground. The result is mesmerising, contemplative yet humming with a quiet dynamism.
While woven canvas is the staple for many painters, cloth that is perhaps more prosaic lends a relatability to these artworks, reminding us of clothing, deckchairs, dropsheets and furnishings. Yet the everyday has been transformed into something remarkable by these artists, and that is a wonderful thing. PN
Isaac by Tia Ansell at Suite
EVAN WOODRUFFE, Studio Art Supplies www.studioart.co.nz
