Art seen, April 11

"Wish You Were Here", Sean Beldon

(Gallery Thirty Three)

Drawing on the memories and memorabilia of personal travel, Sean Beldon’s "Wish You Were Here" sprang from the time of the Auckland lockdown, when Beldon lost the desire to paint and create.

When the tide of inspiration turned and the doors of possibility opened, the photographs and reminiscences of past adventures formed the basis of his new collection—a visual love letter to paths walked, companions found, and the people who weren’t there.

Beldon’s technique has a stylised, graphic element, creating crisp lines, blocks of colour, and layered curves, but as abstraction slips in, the edges and horizon line become slightly more blurred, as if the memories begin to drift a little, sliding into one another. The works are very tonal, each colour palette creating a very distinct atmosphere. (Gold) Otago and Martinborough Red Shed are cast with a heavily warm glow, as if the air is red and dusty with fire and heat, and the titular gold. In contrast, Milford and Doubtful are cool and shadowed, evocative of brisk breeze and refreshing water spray; the clouds roll in, billowing and pillowy, seeming to close around the viewer.

There’s a clever ubiquitous note in pieces like The Silo. The solitary, pared-back scene could be a snapshot from memories in minds across the country, enforcing the dichotomy—this is an intensely personal exhibition, yet the universal notes resonate with a much wider audience.

‘‘Elevated Conversations", Di Tocker

(Gallery Thirty Three)

There’s something very special about glass as an artistic medium. Forged through intense heat and power, the work will continue to interact with its environment, coming alive in the light, changing tone after nightfall—and the same object that thrived in the fires of the kiln, emerging as something even more beautiful, is still inherently breakable. It’s a powerful contrast and coexistence of strength and fragility—and that message weaves through the human connection in Di Tocker’s work.

Tocker’s "Elevated Conversations" focuses on one of her most powerful silhouettes from previous collections, where anonymous, androgynous figures sit on the edge of a precipice, either alone in solemn contemplation or paired in conversation. With minimal identifying features, the human figures become anyone and everyone, a poignant demonstration of the ways in which we interact—with each other, with the environment, and with ourselves. While the glass people are engaged in their own bubble, a separate dialogue takes place between the work and the viewer—layers and layers of communication. Tocker situates her subjects in deliberately remote locations, emphasising the importance of stillness, focus, and quiet to really hear each other.

Whether the figures are actually listening remains open to interpretation—and in a world of conflict and devastation, there’s something very impactful about the figures in Elevated Conversations I, who sit angled away from each other, while the ground melts away beneath them and their position becomes ever more precarious.

"Kawarau 3", Group Show

(Milford Galleries, Queenstown)

The latest group show at Queenstown’s Milford Galleries is a selection of thought-provoking pieces, mixing recent works with some classics from previous decades. Michael Hight’s new landscape Aoraki continues his artistic travels around the country, depicting hyper-realistic imagery of sun-touched fields and jagged mountain ranges. His work is often invested with a sense of imminent movement beneath still waters—both metaphorically and literally. Hight’s skill with minute detail is second-to-none, and Aoraki perfectly captures his talent with depth of tone. By using saturated shades and blending others to be more muted, the foreground is pulled forward into crisp precision, while the farther trees and horizon line take on a slightly hazy effect; the effect mimics the action of both a camera lens and the human eye.

A perennial favourite in sculpture, Neil Dawson’s Red / Yellow Parrot Feather is a contradictory weaving of the inflexible and the ethereal. Dawson’s oversized feathers are created with acrylic, steel, and polycarbonate, solid and enduring in construction yet buoyant and whimsical in effect. The colour gradient seems to capture and reflect the light, as if the work is illuminated from within. The feather gives the illusion that one strong gust of wind would send it tumbling and twisting—but like many things and people in life, it’s stronger than it looks.

— Laura Elliott