exhibitions

Next Exhibition:    "Pick of the Bunch "     
Remuera Gallery 16 October - 5 November 2010
Opening preview Saturday 16 October  3pm

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Exhibition: "Dichotomy"     Art Matakana May 2010

This exhibition is titled Dichotomy, as the works are divided into two opposing and equal parts - one series of natural "survivors" or icons, and another of man-made monuments that don't have quite the same enduring qualities. The Eternal series consists of natural landmarks - landforms, rocks or trees that have stood the test of time. These are some of my favourite painting subjects, they are sentinels, primordial and timeless. I see them as spiritual guardians, witness to what has been , reminding us of our past, and that no matter how Man tries to dominate and control the environment, Nature will always prevail.

The Ephemeral series are another of my favourite painting subjects - I love the detail in the crumbling woodwork, the peeling paint, and the layers that reveal habitation and use. They are still standing, but are disused, dilapidated, and often forgotten. This is the dichotomy: the man-made in contrast with the natural; the monumental and abiding contrasting with the temporal and transitory - these on their way to collapse and decay, leaving little reminder of our attempts at establishing our presence.

Perpetuity
Constancy
Everness
Endurance
Steadfastness
Ephemeral Series
Abandoned
Deserted
Forsaken
Derelict
Stranded
Exhibition: "Ever Closer"     Matakana Gallery May 2009
The exhibition Ever Closer continued a recent theme in my work exploring the notion that the future is the past and that all life is cyclical. It comprised 9 works, a series of 3 sets of 3, based on our country's colonial migration and settlement, but in a wider context as a metaphor for man's time on earth. The title for me has several layers of meaning: the ever closer of the subject matter within each series from the general to the detailed, the journey from a distant perspective to the intimacy of a detailed still-life of the subject, showing that it's the little things that make up the whole. A journey through time, our history from the time before our arrival, as we travelled from other shores, getting closer and closer to the land until we became part of it, making our mark on it and leaving reminders of our lives behind; leading to the return - the fact that our destiny is gradually moving closer from our colonisation and settlement of the land to our eventual exit. This is the meaning in the final series The Return - it is a return to paradise, after man has gone, and our past becomes our future. Nature takes over again, and it returns to how it was. It is my optimistic hope that this is how we will leave the Earth, not a devastated blackened Armageddon, but that man's presence will just disappear, leaving the Earth - eventually - as we found it. So there is an optimism and hope in these works, as well as a celebration of our beautiful country (planet) and for the people who settled it.
Into the Unknown
Close to Paradise
Clarity
The Stay
Arrival
Window to the Past
Time to Reflect
The Return
Back to the Future
Paradise Regained
Full Circle
Previous exhibitions
Ever Closer - May 09
Matakana Gallery, Matakana

Near and Far - October 08
Bank Street Gallery, Whangarei
Reality Check - September 07
Bank Street Gallery, Whangarei

Fringe Dwelling - March 07
Remuera Gallery, Auckland
Fractured Image- October 06
Arts Desire Gallery, Warkworth
The Small Exhibition - February 06
Arts Desire Gallery, Warkworth
Preserving the Past - October 05
Arts Desire Gallery, Warkworth
Rural Decompositions - October 04
Arts Desire Gallery, Warkworth
Coast to Coast - November 03
Arts Desire Gallery, Warkworth
North Land - September 02
Arts Desire Gallery, Warkworth
 

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