(Olga Gallery)
’Tis the season when many art galleries fall back on the tried and true — large group shows offering a mix of previously seen and new works.
Such is the case with a jam-packed show at Olga, offering a wide array of pieces in a traditional "gallery hang", images sitting cheek by jowl on the walls around the art space.
While several of the pieces are familiar, there are more than enough new works, some by less familiar artists, to make the display a fascinating one. Among the newer artists with work on display are soft-focus semi-abstract acrylics by Charlotte Maguire, a moody instrospective print by Chris Schmelz, and some fine, haunting potraiture by Maia Hetariki.
Esther Bosshard’s cameo-like beachscapes impress, the dynamic brushwork giving the scenes a textural abstract nature. And — in proof that the gallery is showing everything including the kitchen sink — Anna Perry’s domestic kitchen still life is worthy of mention.
Other memorable pieces include several Philip Madill works, an architecture study by Murray Eskdale, and a violently painterly piece by Anya Sinclair. Pippi Miller’s meditative yet uneasy gouache is also impressive.
Three dimensional works are also present, notable among them studies of car frames by Jackson Harry and works by Marie Strauss, Mark Rayner, and Louisa Baillie.
(Fe29 Gallery)
Fe29 Gallery is also in the midst of a group show, with over 100 works on display.
The bulk of the exhibition — much of it previously unshown — is by gallery regulars Marian Fountain and John Drawbridge. Several small bronze statuettes by Fountain provide the exhibition’s title, the "Conversation" pieces each consisting of character studies of pairs of anonymous people seated at cafe tables. The faceless forms display a remarkable range of emotion from posture alone, a credit to the artist’s skill. Above these works are double-portrait prints by Drawbridge, the faces of the figures seeming to mirror the features that one might expect to have found on Fountain’s blank couples.
Other works on display include pieces from Marte Szirmay, Evan Woodruffe and Christine Hellyar. Jim Wheeler’s greatly magnified bronze plant-forms are impressive, as are a series of small bronze works by Bill Hayes.
Several newer artists also make an appearance. Johanna Zellmer presents several sensual and sinuous bowl forms in etched aluminium, which are impressive pieces. Gerda Satunas’s imposing, painterly ceramics overflow on themselves and into the gallery like giant organic pavlovas, and Beau Cotton (who coincidentally also has work in the Olga exhibition) displays some fine jewellery, created from kelp embalmed and lacquered in kauri resin, coupled with semi-precious stone to make a memorable necklace.
(Pea Sea Art)
Bucking the trend for large group shows is a more intimate exhibition of monochrome work at Pea Sea by gallery owners and artists Robert Scott and Dallas Henley.
The bulk of the exhibition is a series of small collaborative pieces, each of which, while an artwork in its own right, doubles as a CD cover for a limited-release EP by the couple, a soundscape created live in one take in performance at Port Chalmers Town Hall. These 48 covers range across subject matter from geometric abstraction to surreal landscape, with many pieces clearly showing the trademark styles of the two artists. While this may seem to indicate which of the two artists handled the bulk of each piece, the collaborations often brought about swapping of styles, such that a piece which might seem obviously by Scott is as likely to be by Henley, and vice versa.
Alongside these works are a series of four simple but effective painted panoramas by Scott, the countryside captured in sparse yet deft lines. A warm piece of jewellery by Henley is also on display, as are a series of sculptural pieces also by Henley, each comprising small bird forms placed on recycled wooden board. The resulting forms have the feel of post-modern pou whenua, marker posts for some imaginary land of birds.
By James Dignan
