(Dunedin Public Art Gallery)
Angel Tiatia presents a modern allegory of the Pacific in her video work "The Dark Current", on display at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Weaving a narrative from Pasifika past and present, the artist explores the clash of tradition and kitsch stereotyping, all against a background of the gradually rising waters of Oceania.
The video takes the form of the classic troika of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis — argument, counter-argument, and the combination which points to the future. In The Dark Current, this takes the form of three consecutive threads.
In the first, a young Samoan woman in traditional clothing is slowly submerged in the waters of the Pacific, these images alternating with a kaleidoscope of views of sacred Polynesia sites. These images lead into the second section, a choreographed water dance which slowly reveals itself to be staged within a studio, the fourth wall becoming repeatedly broken as we see the dancers interacting with a film crew and relaxing backstage. Finally, we see a Busby Berkeleyesque extravaganza, a parody of stereotyped Pacific kitsch set within a CGI array of floating moons and ice pineapples. A Pacific Venus rises from a Botticelli-inspired scallop, and we end up asking ourselves about the nature of reality and what the future holds for our fragile environment. Will the real Samoa please stand up?
(Fe29 Gallery)
The art of the late John Drawbridge will be familiar to regular visitors to St. Clair's Fe29 Gallery. The latest exhibition at the gallery introduces a number of previously unseen works from the artist.
The Drawbridge works are predominantly prints, the main gallery space being occupied by a range of strong, heavily worked etchings. Impressive pieces among this group of works include the busy aquatint City at Night, and strong figurative works such as Untitled (Girl With Flowers) and Man of Larisa, Greece. Immediately beyond this room, in the hallway space, is a series of mezzotints and drypoints, predominantly crafted in black, white, and a single focus colour. Pieces such as Wave and Ocean Sky impress with their dynamism, what appears to be gestural sweeps of paint belying their printed origin.
Other rooms show works, some of which have been previously seen at the gallery, among them a series of subtle still lifes in the office space.
These gentle pieces have a warm grace and charm, as well as displaying Drawbridge's evident skills at handling complex subjects such as the reflections and refractions in the interplay of light and crystal glassware.
The exhibition is complemented by the display of several impressive sculptural pieces, many of them by Drawbridge's widow, Tanya Ashken.
(Blueskin Gallery)
Paul S. Allen is holding his debut exhibition at Blueskin Gallery.
Better known as a musician and photographer, Allen has been painting for the last two or three years, originally in watercolours and now in acrylics. Through his photography, Allen has long been interested in the effects of light on natural scenes, with silhouetted trees, evening hills, and light on water often featuring in his images.
The use of acrylics has allowed Allen to experiment with metallic paints, adding glimmers of light to his strongly coloured canvases.
Landscape is implied as much as painted, with broad painterly strokes of bold reds, oranges, and violets interspersed with silver and gold, presenting the land in hazy waves of light. A few darker works are of interest, night views where the strong bronze crepuscular light is replaced with midnight blues flecked with the faintest of starlight.
Several more straightforward landscapes are also present in the exhibitions and, alongside the landscapes, Allen has also displayed a few more experimental works ranging from impressionistic rainbow washes of colour through to geometric abstraction. While these are intriguing pieces, it is the strongly coloured works which star here, especially those in which the land and sea dissolve into the humming light.
By James Dignan
