Art seen: Exploring pattern, light and depth

Erin Driessen takes a look at the latest exhibitions around Dunedin.

Manu Berry, "Watermarks", None Gallery

Manu Berry explores pattern, light and depth in "Watermarks" at None Gallery.

The exhibition is made up of work in monoprint, woodcut, drawing and relief carving.

Berry's Shimmer woodcuts are large square panels made up of many thin horizontal lines in blues, greens, purples, oranges and greys.

The surface of each panel appears to shimmer like water as long and short lines, both straight and diagonal, push and pull to give the work a shimmering effect.

The Colour Strip monoprints hang in series to form a large rectangle in prism colours of indigo, red, orange, green and blue.

Drawings of synchronised swimmers mark the starting point of Berry's work with water and hang in the gallery's alcove.

Shading and toning are played with to explore patterns made by water on skin.

Perhaps the highlight of this exhibition is Berry's relief carving ceiling panels which, for the duration of the exhibition, have in part replaced the gallery's regular ceiling.

One looks up to see blue figures swimming among ripples and swirls.

The swimming figures are human but faceless, the lines of their bodies extending to merge with patterns in the water.

Using a common theme, Berry has created an exhibition of diversity and skill, demonstrating the depth of his printmaking practice.

Helen Back, "Social Acrobats", The Artist's Room

Umbrellas, stripes, Hula Hoops and polka dots grace the Artist's Room as Helen Back returns with a new exhibition, "Social Acrobats".

The usual colour, energy and whimsy are present in her hand-sculpted figures.

The Obvious Problem consists of a female dancer (who wears a real blue feather in her hair) grasping the hand of a rabbit in one hand and a top hat in the other.

In Being a Prop in Your Show, a man stands hunched over with hands on hips as a boy balances on his back.

The boy wears a striped suit and perches with his foot, which is that of a bird's, on the man's head.

The boy spreads his wings.

Back has also, for the first time, created six small plaque-like paintings.

They are made up of the same materials as her sculptures - hessian, canvas, layers of paint and clay - so can also be seen as relief sculptures.

The same patterns and imagery appear, yet the mood is somewhat darker.

In A Small Feat, a larger figure smiles eerily at a smaller figure balanced on his fingertip.

Performance consists of a figure doing a handstand, looking up desperately at the "Exit" sign in the corner.

Out of the fantasy and fairy tale comes one truth: Back just gets better.

Jessica Crothall, "Summit", Rocda Gallery

The development of Jessica Crothall's work between 2006 and 2008 is seen in "Summit", an exhibition of acrylic canvases at Rocda Gallery.

Previously observed in Crothall's work has been the play between subject and abstraction.

She clearly has a strong relationship with landscape, to which the titles of her work allude: Mountain Pass, Coastal Trees, Windswept Trees.

Yet in these works the viewer can also choose to see whatever they wish.

There is an energy and experimentation that take up the theme of a journey.

Crothall journeys through her painting process just as she might journey through the landscape itself.

The viewer's eye is led around the canvas, taking its own journey down Crothall's paths.

Coastal Trees I and II are created, like other works, using a worn-out paintbrush.

Crothall's interest in the effect of wind on New Zealand's coastal trees is expressed through the brush movements and natural, gnarly effects are enhanced through the use of a bristle-less brush.

Root and Branch shows the replacement of paintbrush by fingertips.

This method has most definitely resulted in a different aesthetic.

Though still patterned, this painting is even more experimental in its heavy use of layering and smudging.

Crothall explores representation and abstraction simultaneously.