Modular works hanging at Dunedin Public Art Gallery challenge perceptions of reality, writes Tim Pollock.
Wellington-born Ray Thorburn rose to prominence as a painter in the late 1960s and represented New Zealand at the prestigious Sao Paulo contemporary art biennale in 1971. Thorburn was the 1973 Frances Hodgkins Fellow and was able to spend the year in Dunedin painting full-time.
Modular 4, Series 5 was completed during Thorburn’s fellowship year and is a great example of his "optical works", which use vibrant colour, rhythmical patterns and sometimes an uneven picture plane to trick the eye and give the viewer the impression the work is moving.
With its meticulous glossy surface, the painting was probably painted, to Thorburn’s detailed instructions, by a professional automotive spray painter. Geometric abstract works such as this rely on painstaking and exacting craftsmanship in order to challenge the viewer’s perception of reality.
Thorburn completed many of these "modular" works between 1967 and 1974, which are comprised of several, usually three or four, individual component parts, or modular units, which can be hung in various configurations according to how the viewer wishes to experience the work.
Modular 4, Series 5 is currently on show at Dunedin Public Art Galley in the collection show "Exploded Worlds", but visitors can also see other examples of Thorburn’s modular works in "Undreamed of ... 50 years of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship", also showing at DPAG and the Hocken Library until February 26 next year.
Tim Pollock is commercial development manager at the DPAG.
