Simon Richardson’s exhibition "Life and Still Life", which opened at Eastern Southland Gallery last week, shows a selection of portraits of celebrated New Zealand creatives alongside domicile still-lifes.
Richardson was born in Gore in 1974, studied art in Dunedin and has been working as a full-time artist ever since.
A portrait of his daughter Mila won a prestigious portrait award at the National Gallery in London and his painting of New Zealand photographer Fiona Pardington was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in Australasia.
In his newer works, the artist used the medium of egg tempera, which gave his paintings of everyday images, like a plate of marmite toast, a rich depth.
With these images the artist, intentionally or not, has taken part in the social media trend of taking a photo of one’s food before eating it.
He has put his own grounded spin on it, however, by capturing his daily, bare-bones meals such as a piece of buttered bread or a freshly caught fish laid on tinfoil.
The paintings were done using traditional painting techniques and the luxury addition of gold leaf, which elevates the imagery.
The combination of the textured tempera and the leaf gave the newer paintings a glowing, velvety texture.
Richardson’s iconic 2004 oil painting of poet Hone Tuwhare and a more recent study of central-Otago based artist Sir Grahame Sydney were also on display.
The show will be on until May 4.
