MONEY

July 19, 2024. Aotearoa, NZ —  ‘MONEY’ exhibited on billboards nationwide from mid-July– Sept 1, 2024.

MONEY is part of photographer Mickey Smith’s ongoing project Volume, which documents bound periodicals and journals in public and institutional libraries. 

This new iteration of work will be shown in 23 key locations in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, and Christchurch. The exhibition will have an estimated reach of 928,125 making this type of public artwork one of the most highly experienced by everyday New Zealanders.

Mickey Smiths’ portraits of book spines are documented as they are found in the stacks. The books are not touched, artificially lit, or manipulated— rather created by the librarian and found in the stacks— positioned by the last anonymous reader. The text and knowledge between covers remain unseen and untouched, while the titles rise above their original intent, evoking a sense of intrigue. 

“MONEY was first exhibited as part of a public art festival in a vacant office of the old Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank building. The title has since been exhibited throughout the United States, in Russia, and now Aotearoa. In each of these societies, be they considered capitalist or socialist, MONEY is at the forefront of the public mind – no matter the economic climate, dire or thriving.”

Mickey Smith, artist

This new iteration of MONEY stands manifest to Smiths’ artistic practice as it continues to evolve — books themselves record and chronicle, as do Smith’s photographs, with the rapid increase of digitization, periodical collections have become harder to come by. By presenting her earlier work digitally, within the landscape of media advertising, the artist activates her work for a new audience, allowing them to reflect when confronted with MONEY, considering its significance in their daily lives.

“When you see the boards in the flesh, in the context of an advertising space, it makes you question why you’re even looking. What are you being sold? Experiencing them for the first time, I found myself asking; “What about money? What is my relationship to it? Why pursue it? Why does it loom so large?” And then, before you know it, the MONEY has vanished. You forget about it. Another round of ads play and it is back again…  I’m so pleased LUMO has been brave enough to show this work.”

Mickey Smith, artist

Art Ache is an artist-led, non-profit initiative that aims to connect people in Aotearoa with Art in an everyday environment. 

“This series serves as a provocative reflection of contemporary times. This new adaptation marks two decades since the artist first captured it, creating a monument to both the work and the word itself.” 

Aimée Ralfini, Art Ache

MONEY Documentation of exhibition by Mickey Smith for Art Ache 2024. Photography by Sait Akkerman of Arts Diary.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

About The Artist

Mickey Smith
b. 1972 Duluth, MN USA
Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand

Mickey Smith is an award-winning conceptual artist and photographer. Her practice has been engaged with a longstanding inquiry into libraries, books, and archives, focusing on the social significance of their physical existence or disappearance.

Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography from Minnesota State University (1994) and a Diploma in Jewellery Design from Hungry Creek Art & Craft School (2019). Smith has received awards and residencies from the McKnight Foundation, Forecast Public Art Affairs, CEC ArtsLink, Americans for the Arts, and Creative New Zealand. Her works are held in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art Library, Weisman Art Museum, Plains Art Museum, and Sheldon Museum of Art. Smith lives with her family in Devonport and is a volunteer advocate for Harbour HoSpice.

Mickey Smith: Morphologies, her upcoming solo exhibition and tour, opens August 2024 at Law Warschaw Gallery in the USA. Closer to home, Sanderson Contemporary will present Volume: Domesticated in March 2025.

Artists’ website: mickeysmith.com
Instagram: @mickeysmithstudio
Artwork Sales: Sanderson Contemporary

About Art Ache

Art Ache believes at the core of every healthy, happy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors.

Since 2012 Art Ache has been promoting New Zealand artists and their work using experiential marketing. An artist-centric movement, Art Ache aims to translate the complexities of creative expression into engaging experiences for everyday citizens, to enrich their daily lives.

“Corrupting the use of digital billboards for Art turns the cityscape into an art gallery, which everyone gets to experience.” 

Aimée Ralfini, Art Ache

​​Art Ache was founded by Aimée Ralfini (neé Martin), who remains the director. Art Ache has worked with, supported, and promoted hundreds of New Zealand artists and their work, from emerging to our most revered. Art Ache is an artist-led not-for-profit.

Art Ache’s website: artache.com
Instagram: @artache_nz
LinkedIn: @aimeeme

About our Art Patron LUMO

This Exhibition has been made possible by LUMO Digital Outdoor. Art Ache and Digital billboard company LUMO have been collaborating since 2017. Both share the same vision of using digital spaces to communicate non-advertorial concepts. Using Outdoor interactive technology allows Art Ache and artists to dream big when creating art for the digital medium.

Additional documentation on Arts Diary

Water Marks is a digital activation from the project ‘Listening to a Wet Land’ by artist Kate van der Drift. 

The result is a mesmerising nebula of colourful pools that undulate upon the artwork’s surface.

Exhibition Details – Water Marks will be on display until January 22nd. The artworks are showcasing on 23 key locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Kate van der Drift is a contemporary photographer working and living between Tāmaki Makaurau and the Waikato. She has a particular interest in recording and highlighting the relationship between humankind and our natural habitat, through ecological studies using analogue film processes.

In 2022, van der Drift completed her Master’s degree at Elam School of Fine Art. The artworks featured in Water Marks were made as part of the artist’s masters project ‘Listening to a Wet Land’ exploring the ecological complexities of the waters situated in the Hauraki Plains.

Van der Drift was the winner of the Uxbridge Malcolm Smith Gallery Art and Ecology Award (2020) and the Stoneleigh New Zealand Artist Grant (2018). She is currently a finalist in the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award.

• Artists website: katevanderdrift.com
• Artists Instagram: @katevanderdrift
• Sales: Sanderson Contemporary

Art Ache has been activating art around Tāmaki Makaurau since its inception in 2012. It is an artist-centric movement in art communication. 

Created to increase Auckland’s art awareness via events, campaigns, broadcast, social, print media and artist mentoring. Art Ache currently runs biannual activations via digital billboards and digital media channels, annually reaching approximately 140,000 commuters, with over 5,860,000 audience contacts by the general public, nationwide.

“Corrupting the use of digital billboards for Art, turns the cityscape into an art gallery which everyone gets to enjoy.” – Aimee Ralfini, Director, Art Ache

Art Ache believes at the core of every happy healthy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors, and aims to make art and culture part of the everyday conversation in Aotearoa. 

• Art Ache website: artache.com
• Art Ache Instagram: @artache_nz    

This Art Activation has been made possible by LUMO Digital Outdoor.
Art Ache and Digital billboard company LUMO have been collaborating since 2017. Both share the same vision of using digital spaces to communicate non-advertorial concepts. Using OOH interactive technology, allows Art Ache to dream big when transposing art for the digital medium.

Copyright © 2024 Art Ache, All rights reserved.

ATTN: Moth Enthusiasts, Entomologists, and Art lovers!

GIANT MOTHS SPOTTED IN AUCKLAND, CHRISTCHURCH, HAMILTON AND WELLINGTON

Aotearoa, New Zealand, July 6, 2023 — Keep an eye out for an influx of beautiful giant moths throughout Aotearoa’s urban landscape this month. The moths are meticulously crafted artworks of Tāmaki Makarau artist Liam Gerrard.

WHEN + WHERE

This seasonal art activation will be on display until the end of July. Artworks are playing on 54 different locations nationwide (mainly in Auckland) and are well worth hunting down. Locations vary weekly. Street locations can be found here.

This week the artworks are at the following locations:

• Hobson Twins – AKL
• Lincoln OUT – CHCH
• Tuam – CHCH
• Western Springs Out – AKL

Liam Gerrard Explores the Fragility of Life in Captivating Portraits of Three Endemic New Zealand Moths Asaphodes Adonis, Asaphodes Chlamydota and Ichneutica Omoplaca.

In his most recent body of work, Gerrard has turned his attention to moths as a subject matter—an insect with an average lifespan of one to six months, but often surviving for just one to two weeks. Through his intricate paintings and drawings, the artist explores the evanescent existence of these creatures, reflecting on their brief time on Earth and the profound symbolism they hold.

Gerrard’s artistic process itself reinforces the concept of the passing of time. His attention to detail, coupled with the patience and precision required to create his artworks, underscores the themes of transience and the delicate balance between life and decay. Each stroke of his brush or pencil serves as a testament to the intricate beauty found in the natural world.

About Art Ache
Art Ache has been activating art in and around Tāmaki Makaurau for 10 years. It is an artist-centric movement in art communication. With a goal to make art and culture part of the everyday conversation in Aotearoa. Art Aches’ art campaigns are created specifically with that in mind.

Art Ache believes at the core of every happy healthy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors. 

“Corrupting the use of digital billboards for Art turns the cityscape into an art gallery which everyone gets to experience.”
– Art Ache founder Aimee Ralfini

This Art Activation has been made possible by LUMO Digital Outdoor.
Art Ache and Digital billboard company LUMO have been collaborating for five years now. Both share the same core values around the importance of intelligent visual communication. Corrupting the use of digital billboards for Art turns the cityscape into an art gallery that everyone gets to experience.

Priceless art plates, are to be given away at the upcoming Ōtāhuhu Food Festival.

Five different artworks, valued at $250.00 each, have been lovingly hand-printed onto classic enamel camping plates, these have been crafted especially to give to the local community.

The artists involved are;

• Andy Leleisi’uao,
• Iokapeta Magele-Suamasi,
• Lissy Robinson-Cole,
• Loa Toetu’u, and
• Rudi Robinson-Cole.

The Ōtahuhu Food Festival is happening Saturday 1st October 2022. After a 3 year hiatus, it’s back and better than ever. The Ōtāhuhu Food Festival has over 80 awesome food vendors set to participate this year and is recognised as the largest and longest ethnic street food festival in Tāmaki Makarau, with an amazing array of food from around the world.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Andy Leleisi’uao

Andy Leleisi’uao is one of the most significant Pacific artists living and working in New Zealand today. He is New Zealand born of Samoan heritage and known for his modern and post-modern Pacific paintings and art. He was the paramount winner at the 26th annual Wallace Art Awards in 2017 and awarded a Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards in 2021. Andy Leleisi’uao’s work is included in the permanent New Zealand collections of Pataka Museum Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, the Chartwell Collection and the Wallace Arts Trust collection.

About his artwork: A Choir of Brown Angels.

These brown angels spend their time making their universe a better place. At unpredictable times during the day and night from a scaffold, they are busy painting faded rainbows, polishing stars, washing the moon, pumping flat clouds with air, and watering flowers and trees among other things. In this piece, they are simply spreading love.

Andy is represented by Artis Gallery in Auckland.

Iokapeta Magele-Suamasi

Iokapeta Magele-Suamasi is an Aotearoa born artist of Samoan heritage (Lufilufi | Satalo, Falealili). She is a proud Ōtarian and her background includes freelance design, ceramics, community outreach, gallery education, and technology. Her postgraduate studies in arts management and technological futures have recently informed her art where she has alluded to ethical A.I., digital inclusion, and data sovereignty for Moana people. 

About the artwork: Birds on a Plate

The ‘birds’ allude to the urban colloquialism mentioned by rap artist Ice Cube in his 1993 hit Ghetto Birds in reference to Police helicopters. Ghetto Birds are of course a daily sight and ‘sound’ in Ōtara. The design is an abstraction from a source photo taken in 2021 capturing a powerline worker being suspended in the air to work on a local pylon. 

Follow Ioka’s work on Instagram @ioka_peta

Lissy Robinson–Cole

Lissy Robinson–Cole is a self-taught kai-tuimāwhai who grew up in a bustling creative force, raised by her mother, Mairehau (and whānau of performers and weavers), and her father, Colin Cole, a renowned New Zealand couturier. Lissy Robinson-Cole is a multidisciplinary artist (crochet).

In 2014, Lissy met Rudi Robinson, her husband-to-be. Gearing up for their wedding in 2017, they dedicated their future artistic partnership to their ancestors and the universe. In 2021, Lissy and Rudi became Artists in Residence at Nathan Homestead in Manurewa, where their studio is based.

Lissy liked the idea of art on the street after discovering the work of the L. A based yarn bomber, London Kaye. Inspiring artworks for the local community and bringing joy to unloved spaces, they created a giant Anzac Day poppy (2018) on the Princes Street motorway overbridge. They covered their car entirely with crochet in ‘The Joyride’ (2019).

Since then, the duo has been in fifteen exhibitions. Their subsequent major work, Wharenui Harikoa, is a large-scale crocheted wharenui that aims to transform intergenerational trauma into deeply felt joy, one loop at a time. The plans for this work include travelling throughout Aotearoa and the world, creating a global impact of aroha.

About this artwork: Aroha

Aroha is the driving force behind the mahi Rudi and I create. Everything we create is in celebration of our Tūpuna and our people. The loving memories of our nanas and aunties and uncles long gone as well as the aroha that surrounds us from our whānau, our children and our mokopuna is what sustains us.

Follow fabulous Lissy & Rudy on Instagram @lissyandrudi

Loa Toetu’u

Ahotae’iloa Toetu’u is a Tongan-born artist and teacher who lives and works in South Auckland. Toetu’u works in the medium of painting and has exhibited his works in several solo and group exhibitions in Auckland. Several of his works are heavily inspired by ngatu as a medium that records a time and place and particular events and histories. Many of his recent works pair kupesi with contemporary icons and silhouettes to create new conversations between the past and present.

My works are drawn from my family and my Tongan heritage and culture.  I saw ngatu, ta’ovala, woven mats and beautifully decorated dance attire.  I took a minimal approach to the kupesi or Ngatu designs and the use of repetition of simple forms to create an illusion.  Building from this understanding, I liked the way Tongan women combined traditional kupesi with modern figurative designs to create a narrative and used this to record a space and time of a particular event.  

About this artwork: Moana

Moana translates as the Deep Ocean. When I created this painting I was inspired by the colours of the Moana which has hues of blues and the repetitive lines created a wave-like pattern. The combination of other colours was a metaphor for the diversity of the Pacific and the World we live in today.

Check out more of Loa’s work on Instagram @loatoetuu

Rudi Robinson–Cole

Rudi Robinson–Cole grew up surrounded by whānau in the small forestry town of Kaingaroa, Bay of Plenty. Rudi says he was born with a chainsaw in his hands and is now as proficient with a crochet hook as he is a chainsaw. Rudi is a multidisciplinary artist (crochet).

As a child, Rudi would spend countless hours exploring the forest or out in the shed at the back of his house where he would create. This is where he says he began a love of making. “We had to make do with very little, so it forced me to use my imagination to bring my creations to life.”

In 2014 Rudi worked alongside acclaimed artist Eugene Kara to set up the first Māori foundry at Te Puia Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Rotorua. Here they worked on creating the first bronze cast whatarangi under the initiative “Māori Tū” led by the Iwi Chairs Forum to demonstrate Aotearoa’s support for the UN’s Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Rudi and Lissy work collaboratively utilising contemporary techniques with customary Māori carving to create structural forms. In 2020 they showcased their experimental work in a joint exhibition Ka Puawaitia – Coming to Fruition at Corban Estate Art Centre.

About this artwork: Aroaromahana

This image depicts Aroaromahana which means the welcoming of the warmth of spring.

Instagram @lissyandrudi

Art Ache is a visual arts activation platform that has been supporting artists and their mahi for almost 10 years. Art Ache communicates fine art and creative thought to a wide and varied audience through events, social media, digital billboard campaigns, podcasts and other bespoke activations. Founder and director Aimee Ralfini created the Art Ache to help strengthen New Zealand’s creative muscle. Art Ache believes artists are the litmus paper of society, changemakers, who create new pathways towards holistic wellbeing.

Aimee Ralfini has mentored and generated interview podcasts for well over 200 New Zealand artists, from emerging to Aotearoa’s most esteemed. She has produced over 20 art events, hosted an art radio show for four years, and writes about a selection of exhibitions in Tāmaki Makaurau, which is published monthly in Verve Magazine.

This is an Art Ache activation supported by Ōtāhuhu-Māngere Arts

Emma Bass is an established artist with a colourful and distinctive take on Flora, Photography – and life. We have her latest artwork available to purchase in the Art Ache Storeroom!

“Marigolds symbolize positive emotions; passion, energy, warmth, happiness, joy and good luck.”

Emma Bass, 2022

In this work Bass artfully creates a god-like sunburst of floating Marigolds.

Pointed hands reference Michelangos’s Sistine Chapel amplifying the ethereal nature of the work when presented at scale within the cityscape, where the work played on LUMO Digital billboards nationwide, as part of the campaign by Art Ache.

This work was created in conjunction with Aimee Ralfini’s work The Marigolds and uses the same core ingredients – Marigolds from the artists’ garden and a Bestway swimming pool. The hands featured in the work belong to Ralfini and that of her neighbour, the work was shot the Auckland’s cultural melting-pot – Ōtāhuhu.

The title of The work Solar Power speaks to the power of nature and makes a clear reference to the symbology of the Marigold flower across cultures, religions, and societies.

About Emma

Emma Bass is an established photographer with a global audience. Her work has twice been selected for the Royal Academy Summer Show in London. In the current 2022 show, Bass’ work ‘Watershed Moment’ is on display. In 2016 ‘Hydrangeas 8.50 am’ was also exhibited – a work typical of the artists’ photographic style; decorative and seductive floral compositions in collectible vases. More recently her work ‘.

More info: Emma Bass | Podcast | website.

The artist is offering 15% off the full price of this work for a limited time, a saving of over $300.00! Use the voucher code MARIGOLD at checkout. Shop here.

Solar Power is available to purchase in two sizes:
500 x 800mm unframed* – Edition of 30
750 x 1200mm unframed* – Edition of 12

Printed on archival Giclée paper.
For 15% discount – Enter MARIGOLD at checkout.
*Framing can be organised for an additional fee.

Visit our Storeroom.

Get your Vitamin See from our latest digital activation

Exhibiting on LUMO Digital billboards nationwide, this campaign features the work of Emma Bass and Aimee Ralfini.

Harnessing the power of luminescence, these artworks emit visual triggers to help create feelings of well-being from viewers throughout the country these winter months.

With the current state of the health system and winter illness on the rise, it’s a relief to know that visual reprieve from our daily woes is available for all New Zealanders, in the form of vibrant works of art created to infuse the spirit with joy

The Marigolds
by Aimee Ralfini

Created to make your eyes water, these saccharine marigolds are 100% real. The flowers were hand grown, from seed, in the artists’ garden. The background is water from Ralfini’s above-ground BestwayTM pool.

The bright and poppy Marigolds pay homage to Tāmaki Makarau’s cultural melting-pot of Ōtāhuhu, where the artist resides. 

Details of campaign
This seasonal art activation will be on display until 17th July. Artworks are playing on different locations throughout Aotearoa and are well worth hunting down. Locations vary weekly. For up-to date location information and high res imagery, please contact Aimée Ralfini on +64211775939 or via email.

About Art Ache
Art Ache is an artist-centric movement in creativity and communication. It aims to make art and culture part of everyday conversation in New Zealand.

Founded in 2012 by Aimée Ralfini, Art Ache works alongside emerging and established New Zealand artists to create engaging campaigns of their practice via digital activations, auctions and events, providing a space for the community and artists to connect.

Our billboard Partnership
Art Ache and Digital billboard company LUMO have been in partnership since 2017. Both share the same core values around the importance of art in society, and the role it plays in increasing cultural health and connection. LUMO billboards present the very best in luminance quality and uniformity, true-to-life colour calibration, brilliant contrast and reliability in digital screens in New Zealand, as well as offering the most up-to-date OOH interactive technology, which allows Art Ache’s artists to dream big when creating art for the digital medium.

there: look: up there: the stars 

The secret powers of the quiet sublime: how a digital billboard project taps into 18th century aesthetics and something even older. 

Developed in the mid 18th century, Edmund Burke’s theory of the sublime in art defines it as that which evokes a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement, or imitation. Turner’s dramatic sea storms fit this bill or works of art that inspire awe and wonder, dread and terror. However, there’s another aspect to the sublime, one that comes from a different understanding and encompasses an alternative but equally heightened response: that of the imagination’s move towards the infinite. Drawing from what Immanuel Kant called the mathematical sublime, this is a quieter but no less intense response, less of the formless turbulence and more of the calm awe felt from the immensity and beauty of the natural world. 

Consider Bonco’s Virgo in Red and Purple as an example of the Kantian mathematical Sublime. Across the pictorial plane straight lines divide its surface into a grid, then form a number of triangles decreasing in size. Black, ivory, and white are joined by hints of bright colour and the surface of an unprimed canvas showing through. The composition is iterative, elegant, and contained. This isn’t the moment of visceral drama, but a chess-board like play of quiet geometry and signifiers. The work isn’t sterile, however, there are no precisely masked and painted lines or brushless perfection. The hand of the artist is evident here. Following the triangles picked out in deep red reveals the constellation Virgo and the painting references the Book of Genesis and its account of the creation of the world and early history of humanity. 

In Genesis 15:5 God takes the doubting Abraham outside and directs him to look upward and count the stars, if indeed he can count them all. Confronted with the vastness of the night sky and its countless stars we sense something thrilling and overwhelming, an ineffable force. Both enormous in its complexity and unfathomable in its magnitude the cosmos reminds us of our place in the universe. We are just a tiny fraction of something vast and sublime or, as Nobel prize winner Jacques Monod would have it, “Gypsies at the edge of the universe”. Life, like the cosmos, can overwhelm our capacity to make sense of it.

In an existence seemingly shaped equally by predictability and randomness, humankind is drawn to that which we cannot fully comprehend and to follow a restless impulse towards the sublime.

Since the beginning of time and across all cultures we have charted the night sky in mythopoetic terms, a response to this vast and unknowable domain. The night sky is mysterious, infinite, beautiful. Yet its contemplation makes insignificant our individual fates and crushes delusions of self-importance. 

Vastly enlarged and appearing on digital billboards across Auckland and other New Zealand cities, a detail of Virgo in Red and Purple assumes the monumental proportions of its structure.

To see the billboard, the viewer mimics Abraham’s action of looking up.  Where once humans looked to the stars for guidance now marketing shapes our decisions, but substituting Bonco’s painting on this platform offers a disturbance to this landscape, his work returning the feeling of standing alone in front of infinity.

At odds with the large scale and public visibility of the billboards is Bonco’s approach to his practice. For him painting is an introspective pursuit, a practice of self discovery. Central to the human condition is the need to explore our sense of place and purpose in the world and this inward-facing reflection is common in Bonco’s work. His practice is deeply personal, about asking questions and uncovering truths, a “slow, meditative process to know ourselves in a truer sense”.

Much of Bonco’s painting invokes the metaphysical and extends back into the tradition of abstraction and spirituality explored by Mondrian, Kandinsky, and Hilma af Klint. The origins of Western abstraction owe much to a confluence of ideas about spirituality current at the turn of the last century and shaped a radically new paradigm for art. Via the language of geometric abstraction his work encompasses references to art historical and spiritual concerns, filtered through his own life experiences and beliefs. Encoded within Virgo in Red and Purple are signs and symbols, a characteristic of Bonco’s practice. Triggers for the subconscious, these elements communicate between artist and viewer, seeking to offer a balm of sorts. Now presented in the public domain, the painting’s symbolic elements are writ large – presented on LED digital billboards along busy streets. The painting’s quiet signifiers have quite literally become signs for our time.

Written by Kelly Carmichael

Commissioned for Bonco’s 2021 Art Ache digital billboard campaign.
Billboard campaign commissioned by LUMO digital and Art Ache.

Cover Art: Bonco, 5:15. New North Road, Kingsland. 2021. Photo by Paul Nathan

The Impossible Garden

Aimée Ralfini chats with photographer Emma Bass about her latest exhibition up at Alberton House as part of The Auckland Festival of Photography.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 14.06.20

Podcast now playing via Spotify and iTunes

It’s always a delight to see the love affair between an artist and their medium, and it’s a thrill to catch it in infancy and watch it grow. Looking at Emma Bass’s latest series, in comparison to her previous, it’s impossible to ignore the sharp right turn the artist has taken from her visual arc.

Podcast commissioned by Artis Gallery and Albert-Eden Local Board – now playing.

Emma Bass is an established photographer with a global audience. Her 2016 work ‘Hydrangeas 8.50 am’ presented at the Royal Academy Summer Show is typical of her photographic style; decorative and seductive floral compositions in collectible vases. Anyone familiar with her work ought to brace themselves, as this new series sees her re-contemplating her approach on all levels.

The Impossible Garden blurs the boundaries between painting, photography and collage. Bouquets have been created by layering rather than arranging, making the works surface aware with an acutely tactile finish.

Gone is the central itemised vase sitting atop its ledge. In fact, at first glance, this latest series seems to completely dismiss her usual style, however upon closer inspection the same elements the artist has always worked with emerge.

Bass is passionate about the language of flowers, their beauty and ability to heal, in this series she presents vibrant and complex floral portraits entrenched with flora and symbology. The artist has revived the work of 17th century Dutch and Flemish artists such as Bosschaert, Van Aelst and Breughel, by using reproductions of their Still Life paintings as the canvas upon which she lays her pollen.

Bass extends the opulence of the original artworks like a magpie, by adding insects and objects of intrigue – ranging from jewellery to plastic children’s toys – which add a touch of humour.

These items are placed upon the printed art, photographed, then further invigorated with appropriated Matisse shapes painted in 24 carat gilded gold leaf, which pop and dance resplendent against the nostalgic fuzz of the printed paintings in a uniquely curious way.

“The gilded gold shapes are replicas of Matisse’s cut-outs – in respect to his artistic endurance – he made them whilst incapacitated. Knowing they were created from his sick-bed reiterates for me the healing power of beauty.

Adding them to the Dutch still life allows me to create a new synergy whilst also paying homage to both artists…

“With this series I am honouring the artists whose work has strongly resonated with me and played an informative role in my creative development.” – Emma Bass

The juxtaposition of the historic artworks with exotic garden life and shimmering gold creates a new work, brimming with life, yet conversely, as with all Still Life the visual energy has been created with a collection of dead (still) things. It is here where Bass’s homage is most potent, as she has bought these masters back to life, creating new pleasures, with buzz.

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Written by Aimée Ralfini for Art Ache

Podcast now playing via Spotify and iTunes

Artists website |  Instagram| Dealer Gallery Artis (for this series)

Further reading: Dish Magazine | Verve Magazine | Mindfood | La Botanica |  NZlife

The Joy Campaign

It’s time for that fresh start we’ve been waiting for.

Nationwide digital billboard colab with LUMO. April 2020.

Up and down the country in Tauranga, Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, artworks by 7 amazing artists have been created to bring joy to our front-line workers and apartment dwellers.
The brief was simple. Create an artwork that has a sole purpose of evoking joy and happiness from the viewer. Every single one of these billboards which are currently playing on every LUMO digital nationwide.

“I wanted to pre-empt the next period of pandemic-adaptation with joy. These artists are effortlessly positive visual songbirds.

These are for our front-line workers and apartment dwellers who can’t go for that walk in the bush, can’t have animals, can’t escape the dominating lines of urban architecture. These are for you; we are thinking of you and want you to feel good.”
Aimée Ralfini, Art Ache

Artworks have been produced by a range of well-known New Zealand artists; Evie Kemp, Greta Anderson, Tanja McMillan, Angus McNaughton, Vanessa Green, Ralfi Lafini and Cherry Lazar.

“I always like my images seeing the light of day. They are made to be viewed and I would like mine to be there for the essential workers to see. They are legends.” Greta Anderson, Artist

“I really wanted to bring some pure colour, simple joy and total cuteness to our urban environments, it’s as simple as that.

The world is scary and unknown right now so I thought it was a good opportunity to just go all out with happiness.

Everyone is sacrificing so much to help stamp out Covid-19 in Aotearoa, this is my little (no contact) thank you card!” Evie Kemp, Artist

The Joy Campaign will be on display nationwide throughout April 2020, artworks are located in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch.

About Art Ache
Art Ache is an artist-centric movement in art communication. It aims to make art and culture part of the everyday conversation in New Zealand. Art Ache believes at the core of every happy healthy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors. Art Ache Manifesto

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For further information please contact Aimee via email.

Māoriland Film Festival

AM Ralfini chats with Madeline de Young, the Kaiwhakahau Hōtaka (Programme Manager) for the Māoriland Charitable Trust which operates the festival.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 26.01.20

Podcast now playing via Spotify and iTunes

In 2014 Libby Hakaria and Tainui Stevens established the Māoriland Film Festival. Based in Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast, their goal was to show thought provoking indigenous films that move, hearten and unite their community. The festival began with 11 films and by 2019 had grown to138 films from 94 Indigenous nations around the world and included over 200 events and screenings over 5 days. The festival has grown to be the largest presenter of Indigenous screen content in the Southern Hemisphere.

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More information:

The Māoriland Film Festival is based in Ōtaki, and runs from the 18th – 22nd of March.

The Māoriland Hub is located at 68 Main Street, Otaki, Kāpiti Coast.

The Māoriland Hub is a home for the Indigenous, a home for the imagination, a home for ideas and conversations – he whare taketake, he whare tapere, he whare kōrero. It is open year-round in the largest building in Ōtaki Village showcasing Indigenous creativity and innovation through film, visual, music and performing arts, technology, kōrero and more.

Thank you to Liquid Studios for supporting contemporary art journalism.
Produced by Aimée Ralfini for Art AcheTM
All rights reserved.

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The Beauty Around Us.

This years Art Ache Summer campaign features the work of Janet Lilo and Billy Apple. Both artists work have public artworks around the inner city which the campaign reflects.

Art Ache Summer 2019–20.

“This campaign encourages fresh engagement with our urban landscape. Both artists have presented works which connect to their own Public artworks. 

As we go through our daily routines it is easy to blinker out elements of the cityscape that doesn’t directly effect us. Using billboards as a medium to exhibit art gives us the opportunity to manifest a chance encounter beyond expectation, which opens up the mind to the possibility of discovering the magic around us, which we may have previously overlooked.” – Aimee Ralfini, Art Ache.

Lilo’s Artworks can be seen to echo her series Don’t Dream It’s Over – light poles covered in bananas usually positioned along K.rd. Apples work directly references the Billy Apple Compass, a commissioned work by Albert Eden Board created to encourage people to navigate around his artworks in the area. The QR code on the billboard will link directly to the app, and allow anyone participating to have their very own Billy Apple.

Billy Apple established himself as an art brand in 1962. He has had over 250 solo exhibitions and has been curated into more than 250 group shows. Apple has exhibited with Andy Warhol and other pivotal artists associated with the New York and British schools of Pop Art in the 1960’s and Conceptual Art movements in the 1970s. He is considered a pioneer of using neon in art.

Janet Lilo b.1982 (Ngāpuhi, Samoan & Niuean) works in digital video, photography and Installation. Her art practice explores experimental documentary and drawing processes for exhibition, performance and archive. She is interested in documentation as a conversational and social tool for recording time, people and place – often with reference to popular culture.

“I like the sentiments of objects or things. I also like doing, using, appropriating subject matter that is local and global.

Banana’s are everywhere, just like basketball hoops and Michael Jackson. 

The identity of such things is so worldly and I am generally interested in the commonalities rather than differences. I am also very into being a bit playful with my art practice.” – Janet Lilo. Artist.

Art Ache and Digital billboard company LUMO are holding hands. Both share the same core values around the importance of intelligent visual communication.

Art Ache is an artist-centric movement in art communication. It aims to make art and culture part of the everyday conversation in New Zealand. Art Ache believes at the core of every happy healthy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors.

LUMO billboards present the very best in luminance quality and uniformity, true-to-life colour calibration, brilliant contrast and reliability in digital screens in New Zealand. They have real-time capabilities making them New Zealand’s only Smart Billboards. The audience on one billboard alone can reach up to 29,645 on average daily. That’s a lot of people who get to experience art.

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More Information

Artist Janet Lilo: Instagram | Artists website
Artist Billy Apple: Wikipedia | Artists website

For press, sponsorship and collaboration enquiries please contact Aimee Ralfini.

Additional Press  The Big Idea

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Locations of work: On display 23rd December 2019 – 19th January 2020.
Located on LUMO digital billboards the campaign will be moving around the following locations over the four week period.

27 Beach Road, AKL  |  19 Newton Rd, Grey Lynn  |  10 Mt Eden Rd, Grafton  |  18 Stanley St, Parnell  |  394 New North Rd, Kingsland |  182 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby  |  505 Grey St, Hamilton East.

For further enquiries about the artworks, their locations or the artists in relation to this project, please contact Aimee Ralfini. Special thanks to Kent at LUMO digital.

Danish Design – Denmark Design

Emma Jameson – Assistant Curator of international and New Zealand historic art for the Auckland Art Gallery and co-ordinating curator to this particular exhibition shares her insight on the subject.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 26.12.19

Podcast now playing via Spotify and iTunes

Danish design is renowned for sleek lines, sophistication, and ground-breaking craftsmanship. Denmark Design, currently on at the Auckland Art Gallery is the perfect summer showcase, examining the history of Danish Design Icons, the exhibition presents over 200 original objects – including iconic furniture, fabric, jewellery, ceramics, and toys.

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More information:

Denmark Design runs until Sunday 2 February 2020 at the Auckland Art Gallery.

The Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki is located on the corner of Wellesley and Kitchener Streets. Open every day from 10-5pm except Christmas day

Thank you to Liquid Studios for supporting contemporary art journalism.
Produced by Aimée Ralfini for Art AcheTM
All rights reserved.

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Artist Run Spaces – The Samoa House Library.

Kathryn Aucamp reflects on the first year of life for Samoa House Library.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 13.11.19

Podcast now playing via Spotify and iTunes

Artist Run Spaces – the indie bands of the Art world. Supernovas of ambition, freedom and idealism. Often created by a collective of Art School grads, they provide a safe space for the next wave of critical thinkers to collide, collaborate and critique.

The organisational team of Samoa House Library emerged from the Save UoA Fine Arts Library campaign in September 2018. It’s been up and running for  almost a year now, Aimée Ralfini checks in with Kathryn Aucamp – one of the volunteers involved in Samoa House Library, to see how is all going.

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With ongoing closures of specialist facilities in education – such as the Fine Arts Library, there is a proposition is that the Arts aren’t well treated.

When the Samoa House Library first opened its agenda was clear – in recognising the nature of a library, as a collection of both people and books, and as a space. Its aim was first and foremost act as an alternative Fine Arts Library, but also to function as a place of community development and communal learning through workshops, lectures, screenings and critiques.

Podcasted discussion now playing via Spotify and iTunes

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A self-motivated “youth initiative” such as Samoa House Library, is testament to collective progression towards making change and creating a new world. It’s never easy running an artist run space, in its first year Samoa House Library had achieved a myriad of initiatives including Zine Mingle as part of the Auckland Zine Fest and implemented a free, open education program Curriculum – an introductory discussion group that sought to bring together a range of local practitioners engaged with pedagogy in the arts.

Podcasted discussion now playing via Spotify and iTunes
Information on the upcoming Xmas Party on Friday 13th Dec can be found here.

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More information:

Samoa House Library is located at Level 2, Samoa House, 283 Karangahape Road, Auckland 1010. New Zealand.
Website  |  Facebook  |  Instagram  |  Events

Further reading on Save the UoA Fine Arts Library.

Thank you to Liquid Studios for supporting contemporary art journalism.
Produced by Aimée Ralfini for Art AcheTM
All rights reserved.

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The Art of December

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 01.12.19

If you’re feeling the need to escape the chaos of consumerism, single use plastic everything and society in general, take some time-out at an art gallery. Gather your thoughts, engage with your intellectual side, challenge your mind or just zone out at the pretty colours. The Art of December is here to help guide you, enjoy.

Although many galleries are closed in January, they will all be open leading up to Christmas. Post December, all the majors will be open for business as usual and are an excellent way to enjoy a day with family, or just take some wellness time for your soul. Here are some suggestions for your Dec–Jan art calendar.

There’s always so much to see at Auckland Art Gallery. The beautiful work of Louise Henderson ‘From Life’ and international exhibition ‘Denmark Design’ are but a few on display over the holiday period.

Holiday closing times: Dec 25^th.

In the heart of Auckland’s art district of Karangahape Road you’ll find Melanie Roger Gallery, well known for its stable of exciting contemporary artists. This December the gallery exhibits its summer group show Ice Cream Salad – opening Dec 11^th.

Holiday closing times: Dec 22^nd – Jan 29^th.

Right at the top of Ponsonby Road resides Endemicworld. With mainly print editions and some originals available, it’s an excellent place to find a visual treat for under $500.00.

Holiday closing times: Dec 25^th, 26^th and 30^th. Reopening Jan 3^rd.

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Auckland’s fashion district – Newmarket, houses Sanderson Contemporary, a gallery which boasts a range of New Zealand artists well worth investing in. So, if you find yourself shopping in the area, put some time aside to pop in. Their Summer Showcase with multiple artists is currently on display.

Holiday closing times from Dec 25^th – Jan 6^th.

The Pah Homestead hosts a changing program of contemporary art exhibitions from the Wallace Arts Trust Collection as well as additional curated shows. With a wide range of art events including exhibition openings, talks, musical performances, community activities and café, there is always something on for the whole family to enjoy.

Holiday closing times: Dec 25^th, 26^th 30^th. and Jan 1^st and 2^nd.

Belinda Griffiths. Courtesy of Eden Arts and Wallace Arts Trust.

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Source.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image credit: Louise Henderson, January. Courtesy of Auckland Art Gallery.

The art of Juliette

Unraveling the core creative behind fashion designer Juliette Hogan’s work, the artists she works with and the heritage that has made her the woman she is today.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 22.10.19

Podcast now playing via Spotify and iTunes

Juliette Hogan’s is a name synonymous with stream-lined contemporary women’s wear. The brand has been established for over 12 years now. With her first store opening in Ponsonby, Auckland in 2007. But did you know, Juliette initially trained in textile design, a love of which plays a key role in the creative development of her lines every season.

Listen to the podcast via Spotify and iTunes

We often separate creative outputs, sculpture from photography, sound from painting, and in the wider creative industries, we compartmentalize artists into industry; Musicians, Fashion, Artisan.

It’s part of our human condition to box and categorize, in an attempt to make order from chaos.

Interestingly social media plays an enormous part in blurring these boundaries when a painting is fed to us on the same pixelated surface space as a photograph of an installation, our engagement with the artwork aligns.

A crossover too often ignored is between textile, print and fashion design. Textile is a discipline in itself, and when presented via functioning items of clothing, it becomes an incredible mechanism for storytelling.

Listen to the podcasted interview with Juliette via Art Aches Spotify or iTunes.

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Details of discussion:

The imagery presented here is documented composites of Juliette Hogans High Summer line 2019-2020. Available in stores now.

The bespoke textile and Print design discussed was created for Amisfield winery in Queenstown – a delightful place to spend an afternoon. The launch for this new uniform design is scheduled for late November 2019.

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More information:

Juliette Hogans Website: juliettehogan.com
Thank you to Liquid Studios for supporting contemporary art journalism.
Thank you to Anthem for sponsoring this podcast – helping you find your strongest voice.
Produced by Aimée Ralfini for Art AcheTM
All rights reserved.

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Post Hoc, 2019. Artist Dane Mitchell.

New Zealand National Pavilion, Biennale Arte, Venice, Italy.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 13.08.19

Podcast link HERE.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

What if it’s a cell-tower disguised as a tree?

In Venice, Italy…

Known as the Olympics of art, the Venice Biennale is pretty much the ‘top’ for artists. New Zealand’s 2019 representative is Dane Mitchell, whose project delivers cryptic lists of the vanished, the lost, or the destroyed.

Mitchell’s work broadcasts a vast inventory of bygone things to locations throughout the
city via fake tree cell towers, providing smartphone access via hotspot which you can hear the lists.

At the Palazzina Canonica – the epi-center of the work, scrolling lengths of paper lists emerge from a printer placed high upon a structural frame, they cascade down settling in ripples on the floor, forming an elegantly minimal installation of all that which has been lost.

Dane Mitchell produces artworks and spatial experiences that investigate how systems of knowledge are constructed and practically applied.

He is known for intellectually agile work that isn’t immediately obvious or readable.

Through his practice, Mitchell tests how human beliefs and convictions exist in spaces between logic and perception. Operating on the threshold of logic, his work supports the existence of uncertainty, or instability, within rational understanding.

Listen to the podcasted interview via Art Aches Spotify.

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Details of work:

Post Hoc, by Dane Mitchell.
The Palazzina Canonica, Riva dei Sette Martiri, and surrounding locations, Venice, Italy.
On until November 24th 2019.
For more information go to nz@venice.com

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More information:

Artists website: Dane Mitchell
Interview by Aimée Ralfini
Thank you to Liquid Studios for supporting contemporary art journalism
Produced by Kelly Carmichael for Art AcheTM
All rights reserved.

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The Art of August

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 01.07.19

The light around this time of year is so beautiful, it’s frozen in twilight. Elongated shadows stretch across winter surfaces, like cold long fingers wrapping around exposed skin. If you’re up early and enjoy walking, you’ll likely catch the morning fog, still nestling in suburbia, reluctantly dissipating as the winter sun eases into the day.

This August’s visually stimulating activities are perfect for lovers of art and companionship. With the MAGS Art Show, the Waikato Contemporary Art Award, and the Art Ache Winter Billboards, there is plenty to see outside the usual gallery setting. However, if you’re in the mood for solitude, there are many fabulous exhibitions up around the city too. A few picks for this month are:

Wanda Gillespie Solo Show

Through her contemporary wood carvings Wanda questions the nature of reality. Using real and invented historical facts she creates her own world, the characters and artefacts of which form the body of her wok.

Opening at The Vivian Matakana late August

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MAGS art show

The 6^th MAGS art show kicks off on Friday 16^th August. A must for anyone interested in seeing a vast range of artwork by both students and professional artists. All proceeds go to supporting the school. A fabulous evening out, with something for everyone to enjoy.

August 16^th – 18^th at Mount Albert Grammar School

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Cat Fooks Sprung from the soil

Sprung from the soil is a translation from the German word Wahneinfall, meaning delusion intuition. For Fooks the phrase conjures up the heady, irresistible terrain of painterly spontaneity that exercises her imagination.

On until August 23^rd at Anna Miles Gallery

Waikato Contemporary Art Award

This year the awards have been judged by renowned photographer Dr Fiona Pardington, who has selected 53 works by 51 artists nationwide. A lovely way to spend a beautiful sunny winters day, driving through the countryside to experience a selection of the best contemporary art New Zealand has to offer.

August 3^rd to November 10^th at Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato

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Marie Shannon Love Notes Billboard campaign

Marie Shannon is one of New Zealand’s most singular and noted photographers. In this campaign, love notes shared between her and partner, (now deceased), have been photographed and changed into artefacts of memory, love and loss. Blown up on giant digital billboards like visual memorials around Auckland’s cityscape.

*Podcasted interview with artist at artache.com*

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Source.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image credit: Artist Wanda Gillespie.

Marie Shannon – notes on love.

Aimée Ralfini chats with the artist about love, loss and how it feels to have something so explicitly private so publically objectified.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 15.07.19

Podcast link HERE.

Marie Shannon is one of New Zealand’s most singular and noted photographers. Art Ache presents works from her Love Notes (2005) series.

In this campaign, love notes shared between her and partner, artist Julian Dashper (now deceased), have been photographed and presented on black like visual memorials. Changing into artefacts of memory, love and loss.

Such personal content presented in such a highly public arena will undoubtedly engage emotions one would not expect to encounter whilst on the morning commute.

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Details of work: On display 1st July–31st August 2019.
Located on LUMO Digital billboards in and around Auckland city. Locations will be changing weekly.
This week’s locations are 15-17 Sturdee St, 206 Victoria St West, and 319 New North Road, Kingsland. Keep an eye on Art Ache’s Instagram and website for location updates and other information.

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Additional information:
Both artists are represented by Trish Clark Gallery.
Marie Shannon‘s survey exhibition is currently travelling the country, developed by Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 2017. Later exhibited at both Wellington’s Adam Art Gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery, Rooms found only in the home, is on display at Auckland’s Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery until August 25th.

Widget artwork: Marie Shannon Across the Water, 1988 – Courtesy of Trish Clark Gallery.

It’s ok if you’re grumpy, we love you.

Even the darkest winter’s day can be made bright with a little art.

Art Ache’s kisses – 2019

This season Art Ache has two offerings of visual delight on display for all to enjoy. Artworks from Marie Shannon and Vincent Ward will be reaching towards your heart from various digital billboard locations throughout Auckland during July and August.

Marie Shannon is one of New Zealand’s most singular and noted photographers. Art Ache presents works from her Love Notes (2005) series.

In this campaign, love notes shared between her and partner, artist Julian Dashper (now deceased), have been photographed and presented on black like visual memorials. Changing into artefacts of memory, love and loss.

Such personal content presented in such a highly public arena will undoubtedly engage emotions one would not expect to encounter whilst on the morning commute.

A podcasted interview with the artist can be listened to here.

Vincent Ward is one of New Zealand’s most renowned film directors. For Art Ache, he presents Membrane (2012), an image from his underwater series.

Taking the artwork out of context completely changes its intent. The severe crops applied for the billboard medium re-present the work majestically within the city landscape. Rich in aquamarines but still mysteriously shrouded, the androgynous human form glistens like a jewel against winter’s grey.

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Details of work: On display 1st July–31st August 2019.
Located on LUMO Digital billboards in and around Auckland city. Locations will be changing weekly.
This week’s locations are 15-17 Sturdee St, 206 Victoria St West, and 319 New North Road, Kingsland. Keep an eye on Art Ache’s Instagram and website for location updates and other information.

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Additional information:
Both artists are represented by Trish Clark Gallery.
Marie Shannon‘s survey exhibition is currently travelling the country, developed by Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 2017. Later exhibited at both Wellington’s Adam Art Gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery, Rooms found only in the home, is on display at Auckland’s Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery until August 25th.
Vincent Ward is currently exhibiting a new series Loom at Trish Clark Gallery. On until July 20th.

About Art Ache:
Art Ache’s ongoing quest is to engage everyday New Zealanders with Art and artists in a meaningful and relevant way. Art Ache places the artist first and believes at the core of every happy healthy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors. Art Ache Manifesto

Art Ache would like to thank the artist’s dealer Trish Clark and the team at LUMO for being innovative art lovers and making this campaign possible.

The Art of July

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 01.06.19

Planning on a mid-winter holiday somewhere in beautiful Moana Oceania?

It’s always nice to support the local community and bring home a treasure from your time away to memorialise your adventure. But where do you start? Here are some top tips from a range of experts, artists and gallerists working in the field of Pacific Art.

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What is the top piece of advice you’d give to anyone wanting to purchase an artwork or artifact whilst on holiday in the Pacific region?

“Where possible try to buy from the maker, or to meet them. Learn about the artwork itself, what it means to the people who made it and how they use it or display it.” Dr Billie Lythberg (Specialist in Māori and Pacific art).

“Buy from reputable galleries and artefact/craft companies. Unfortunately, cheap imported craft replicas and poorly produced prints do exist. I recommend Bergman Gallery, Moana Gems Pearl and Art Gallery, The Print Room at Beachcomber Pearl Market, Island Craft, Henry Tavioni Craft, Mike Tavioni Craft.”  Ben Burgman (Director of Bergman Gallery, Cook Islands).

“I like to think all artists working in the Pacific are informed by the experience of living here. So the same applies as for purchasing any artwork, buy something you love, something that warms your heart every day you see it, long after the return home.” Deborah White: (Director of Whitespace Gallery, Auckland).

“My advice to serious buyers and collectors interested in purchasing quality artwork or artefacts while on holiday in Oceania is to go beyond the flea markets for more original pieces, and look at venues where you may actually meet the artist.” Nikki Mariner (Island-based Samoan artist and Director of Manamea Art Studio, Samoa).

“Try and find something made locally so try and find the maker. Have an idea what unique things are made from that island or village. Make sure it is made of natural materials.” Numangatini MacKenzie: (New Zealand based Cook Island artist).

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What starting point would you advise to budget for?

“Both Cook Islands Craft and Contemporary Art Work can be purchased at all price points, from NZ$50 for small carvings or art prints to many thousands of dollars for larger, more intricate carved works or original paintings.” Ben Burgman.

“High-quality original artwork is incredibly affordable in New Zealand, by international standards, it is ridiculously underpriced. Works on paper can be as little as $500 and are easy to transport, ceramics even less.” Deborah White.

“It is difficult to pinpoint a starting point to budget for art purchases as prices vary hugely between different island nations, different artists and different types of art. Paintings in our gallery usually start at $300SAT and go up to $4000SAT.” Nikki Mariner.

“$50 will give you a range of options to buy small quality items.” Numangatini MacKenzie.

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What is one of your most treasured artworks or artifacts from the Pacific region and why? 

“My favourite artworks are those made for me by friends. A plaited necklace with two shark’s teeth is a reminder from the incredible Rosanna Raymond to sink my teeth into projects and kaupapa and to be bold and resilient. Sharks teeth are symbols of protection throughout the Pacific, incorporated into adornments and regalia, and are also used to carve wood and to draw blood. My necklace fastens with a single cowry shell, its feminine shape a gentle reminder that the women in my life have got my back.” Dr Billie Lythberg.

“Lianne Edwards is a mid-career environmental artist of Irish/ Tongan heritage, her work is collected and shown internationally. I have one of her “Sea Kraits” a work made of swordfish bills, Tongan sennit lashing and plastic. It is aesthetically beautiful and a constant reminder of the vulnerability of our marine environment and the harm we are doing to sea life.” Deborah White.

“I would say my Ula Nifo (Samoan tooth necklace) is my most loved measina. I’ve worn it for every performance and activation since I was a young girl whether that be for Samoa Day at Kindergarten to an activation at Toi o Tāmaki (Auckland Art Gallery) with the Pacific Sisters. This measina is common throughout Samoa and you’ll find many wearing them for performances although they were once a symbol of status and wealth when made from whale teeth. These days there are many alternatives.” Katherine Atafu–Mayo.

“One of my most favourite artifacts is a mat I purchased in Fiji. I keep it in my car and proudly pull it out at the beach or the park or anywhere in between. It is getting worn down now so I’m excited to get another one in the future. I just returned from Hawai’i and bought a small weapon at a Hawaiian owned store repping traditional craft from Kanaka Maoli. Its 20cm long and has a tiger shark tooth lashed to one end and coconut string loop half way through and sharpened point on the Koa wood. It’s a working weapon, well made and another of my most treasured items.” – Numangatini MacKenzie.

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Auckland winter staycation?

If you’re staying in the winter wonderland that is Auckland this season, fear not! There are plenty of local galleries exhibiting a range of works from contemporary Pacific artists, our experts recommend:

Of Water – John Pusateri at Whitespace Gallery, Newton

WWJD (What Would Jim Do?): 2 – Group show at Vunilagi Vou, Ōtāhuhu

Names held in our mouths –  Group show at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Titirangi

Awakening – Joana Monolagi at Objectspace, Ponsonby

Seeing Moana Oceania – Group show at Auckland Art Gallery, City.

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Written by Aimée Ralfini for Verve Magazine.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image artwork by: Louisa Humphry and Kaetaeta Watson. Courtesy of Te Uru Waitakere.

The Art of June

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 01.06.19

The Art of June gravitates around photography. With the Auckland Festival of Photography running from 31 May to 16 June, many galleries will be showcasing photographers. 

Photography is an exciting medium. Relatively new in terms of art history, it has progressed rapidly, especially with the advent of computer graphics, resulting in artworks that combine digital graphics and surface additions, challenging a viewers perception of the photographed image as ‘truth’ and blurring boundaries between photography, installation, painting, and performance.

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HAYLEY THEYERS

Through her photography Hayley Theyers illuminates the spellbound. Using themes from her childhood, along with myths and fairytales familiar to us all Theyers often brings attention the portrayal of the female. Theatrical and whimsical in style, Theyers’s photography presents stories through a feminist lens tinted with Jungian psychology. The artist is exhibiting at Black Asterisk until June 16^th as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography.

“I dreamed of finding a finger belonging to a witch in a box, on that night both my children had the same dream…  the following night, as I slept, a witch visited me and scratched the sole of my foot. A few days later, in an op-shop in a strange city, I heard a frog croak, where no frog was.”
– Hayley Theyers.

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RICHARD ORJIS

Richard Orjis’s photography captures colourful idiosyncratic manifestations of holistic ritual involving flora and its cycles of growth and decay. Orjis’s sparkling and sensual photographs present young men adorned in ritualistic garb, bedazzling with exotic flowers, they represent imagined rites of passage, retribution and passing ceremonies.

Rich and alluring, Orjis’ work will be on display at Melanie Roger Gallery as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography until June 22^nd.

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LIYEN CHONG

Liyen Chong’s work moves between the captured image of a photograph and the surface upon which it is experienced. She uses her body within the frame to intersect a space like paint, once developed Chong then adds more depth with mixed-media. This tampering with the photographic surface rarefies the moment in time that a photograph captures by making each work one of a kind. Striking and elegant, Chong’s work can also be viewed at Melanie Roger Gallery.

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JUSTINE VARGA

Justine Varga’s photography illustrates the extreme liberation of the photographic medium in that it is cameraless photography. The artist uses elements of the medium – along with heat and physical interaction to emphasise themes of embodiment and duration. Her bold and visceral works are often drawn on, scratched and weathered, creating a ‘Memoire’ of her interplay with the medium. Varga’s stunning works are on display at Two Rooms until July 6^th.

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KEVIN CAPON

Kevin Capon turns everyday items into confrontational portraits; a book taped to a wall, a branch from a rose bush, a close up of a tattooed hand with a missing finger – all of his subjects stand stark as statements within themselves. Documenting such common items as if they are curiosities (and perhaps they are the modern equivalent of) evokes broader real-world issues around our own societal truths, which can leave you feeling quietly unnerved. Capon’s work is on display at Sanderson Gallery in Newmarket until June 10^th.

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NEW  Junes Instagram Find

Following artists on Instagram is a great way to brighten up your feed or add some depth and intellectual inquisition to your day. This months discovery is New Zealand artist Ben Cauchi who is based in Berlin. With work that is hauntingly reminiscent of early photographic experimentation in photosensitivity, @ben.cauchi is well worth your insta-love.

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NEW Arty Keepsakes

If you’re planning on an excursion to the Auckland Art Gallery this season­ – and I recommend you do, prepare to immerse yourself not only art but also in art merchandise, in particular, for the body. Tattoos, scarfs, pins, and patches are ways you can support the art gallery as well as align yourself with top-tier creative thinkers. It is especially exciting that, currently, the gallery’s main shows celebrate female artists; The Body Reborn is on until June 9^th, Pacific Sisters: He Toa Tāera is on until July 14^th, Guerrilla Girls is on until October 13^th  and Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys on until September.

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Written by Aimée Ralfini for Verve Magazine. Source.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image credit: Richard Orjis. Golden Daze. Courtesy of Melanie Roger Gallery.

The Art of May

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 06.05.19

There is no denying it, Winter is here. Jandals are out. Slippers are in. Images of European Springtime have begun to appear on Instagram feeds like the darling buds of May, serving to illustrate the vastness between the platform and our actual reality that we are miles away, staring down the barrel of winter.

With mobile screens providing little warmth, here is a selection of vibrant art exhibitions to warm your cockles this May.

Double The Pleasure at Anna Miles Gallery

Peter Hawkesby continues to provide pleasure for the arts district of Karangahapae Road by way of his ceramic works. These combine loosely referential objects finished in earthen glases with brightly spray-painted ceramic halos – as if paying homage to the materials found in this notoriously gritty and flamboyant urban locality. The group show also features artists Adrienne Vaughan and Richard Stratton and is on until May 25^th.

May Trubuhovich at Masterworks Gallery

Nothing will cosy your heart, more than a tiny button badge of a chirping bird, against a cheery yellow backdrop. Masterworks gallery is exhibiting the much-coveted stitch-work of May Trubuhovich until May 11^th. Her first exhibition of fine art outside a career in award-winning film and animation, Trubuhovich’s work is rich with drama, narrative and exquisite detail. These neat petite wearable artworks start at a minuscule $95.

Garden of Memories at Malcolm Smith Gallery

A group show curated by Giles Peterson, brings together heirloom and contemporary Pacific quilts by artists from across Asia and the South Pacific. The exhibition stokes its audience both educationally – and emotionally. Featuring quilt works by Shona Pitt, Sheena Taivairanga, Lisa Reihana, Vea Mafile’o, Reina Sutton, Lina Pavaha Marsh, and Ken Khun. The Garden of Memories is on until May 12th.

Nola Campbell at Tim Melville Gallery

Nola Campbell is part of Colour Field, an Aboriginal Group show at the Tim Melville Gallery.

Campbell’s work documents the country in which she lives via a visually arresting style of painting which talks to the intimate relationship she has with her land.

Raised in a traditional nomadic context, Campbell (originally Yurnangurnu) keeps the stories past and present of her land alive through her bold expressive brush strokes and vibrant colours. Fascinating, colourful and inspiring, Colour Field is on throughout May, until June 8^th.

On Paper at Artis Gallery

Originals, screen-prints, woodcuts and photography, Artis Gallery presents a diverse selection of works on paper in this group show. From Emma Bass to Liam Barr, this is an exhibition guaranteed to have something for everyone. Running from May 21^st –  June 9^th,  the line-up also includes artists Aroha Gossage, Nigel Brown, Bridget Bidwill, Fatu Feu’u, Weston Frizzell and Michael Smither.

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Source.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image credit: Artist Peter Hawkesby from Anna Miles Gallery.

The Art of April

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 01.04.19

So many artists, so many galleries, all over the country, all over the world. We are a nomadic bunch and tend to travel around the country — who can blame us? It’s so beautiful here. For the Art of April, let’s take a closer look at some of the galleries and artists one might chance upon outside of Auckland and Aotearoa.

From China

With galleries in both Shanghai and Hong Kong Leo Gallery is respected for being a progressive force in nurturing young and representing established contemporary artists. It’s worth familiarizing yourself with the stunningly bold paintings of Tan Ping, who is regarded as the leading figure of Chinese abstract art, or the equally arresting works of Huang Yan as seen above.

From Waikato

Hamilton is becoming increasingly glamorous, due in part to newly established Weasel Gallery. Located on the main strip of Victoria Street, Weasel showcases the work of Telly Tuita amongst others. Tuita’s photographic work features a complex mix of cultural iconography from brightly coloured practical items, trade packaging and mythical figures through to references from Tonga’s colonial history.

From Australia

East Sydney’s Dominik Mersch Gallery aims to exhibit work that has an enduring impact aesthetically and conceptually. Such as the work of Isidro Blasco, who combines architecture, photography and installation to explore themes of vision and perception in relation to physical experience.

Galerie Pompom and Egg and Dart galleries both hail from earlier artist-run incarnations. Between them they present a bevy of delicious artworks from their combined stables, notably the fascinating portraits of Sydney based Andrew Sullivan and the petite visceral works of draped glass by Gabrielle Adamik.

From Hobart in Tasmania, Michael Bugelli Gallery functions part house museum, part contemporary gallery and part event site. In theme with this multidisciplinary space the gallery supports Kai Wasikowski – a multidisciplinary artist. Wasikowski’s artistic practice explores the dichotomy between a simulated natural environment and the ethically riddled consumer materials used to create one.

From Hawkes Bay

Serving the Hawkes Bay region with the very best contemporary art since 2016, Parlour Projects hosts 2018’s Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award winner Emma Fitts. Emma Fitts’ textile sculptural works are made from wools, linens, silks and cotton – materials with which we all connect to on a daily basis, evoking personal narratives for every observer.

From Wellington

Cuba Streets {Suite} Gallery presents the desolate urban nightscapes of Daniel Unverricht, whose oil paintings will resonate with anyone fond of the tranquil beauty that resides in empty parking lots and starkly lit industrial buildings at night.

Located on Victoria Street Millers O’Brien is the newest dealer gallery in central Wellington. Among their stable of artists is Erica van Zon, who uses traditionally craft-associated materials, such as embroidery, beading and tapestry, to create modern works inspired by memories and encounters such as the view from an aeroplane window.

Wellington-based play_station is an Artist Run Initiative boasting over 50 exhibitions since its inception in 2016.  Artist and facilitator Tyler Jackson’s work in-part consists of intensely coloured large wall-mounted relief work, made from industrial materials which have been artfully woven together to maximise the impact of light and colour.

If you’re interested in checking out any of these galleries and artists without leaving Auckland or the country, they will be participating in Auckland’s upcoming Art Fair on May 1^st.

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Source.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image credit: Artist Telly Tuita. Courtesy of Weasel Gallery, Hamilton.

The Art of March

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 07.03.19

By the time March rolls around we have all dug our feet into the sand at least once, or waded in the oceans shallows losing ourselves in its flickering layers of light and pattern. If you’ve not yet made it to the shoreline, then you’ve likely spent a hot afternoon sipping on an ice-cold beverage complaining about the heat. It’s ok to complain about the heat. It knows we mean no harm.

One of the (many) great things about making the effort to relocate ones heat exhausted body to an art gallery during the sticky days of March is Air Conditioning. So, without further adieu, here are some picks of refreshing arty activities for the month of March.

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Auckland Arts Festival

There are so many amazing things happening all around Auckland this March due to the Auckland Arts festival. It opens with a huge, free, waiata event, Tira, a massive, sing-along/outdoor-karaoke, sung in te reo Māori, which takes place in Aotea Square on March 7th, open invite for all. Also, central city based is Mozart’s The Magic Flute – which mixes the beautiful bright enchanting animation of Paul Barritt with live opera supported by Auckland’s Philharmonic Orchestra. “Billows of smoke morph into images, giant spiders roam the forest and elephants splash in cocktail glasses in a grand evocation of silent-era movies and Tim Burton’s signature gothic aesthetic”.

Tonnon in the Stars with diamonds

As part of the Arts Festival musician Anthonie Tonnon has collaborated with the planetarium, Stardome, where he will be performing “A Synthesized Universe”.  A 360-degree experiential performance in which audiences are transported to galaxies far away through music, storytelling and images of the universe. The perfect way to spend an evening.

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Over the Moon, Under the Sun

Sometimes an object of art is so delicious It can make you salivate, an example of this is the work of Brendan Huntley currently being exhibited at Bowerbank Ninow. Perhaps it’s the combination of differing clays the artist uses, that somehow align these potent little sculptures with chocolate coated doughnuts, scooped ice-cream and cherry-iced cupcakes in my mind, or perhaps it’s something extra-terrestrial. Whatever the case may be, I have the overwhelming urge to lick these works and hope whoever buys them, will do so every day, from the privacy of their home. The show is up until March 23^rd.

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Like sands of the hourglass

So too is Vaimaila Urale’s latest series – composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles. Exhibiting alongside Claudia Kogachi at Sanderson, Vaimaila’s latest body of work is titled Aniva. Anvia consists of 50 sand on paper artworks presented as a large-scale installation. Urales work is effervescent and vibrant, comprised of modernised Polynesian forms and symbols, this latest series is perfectly timed with the season and one not to be missed.

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The refreshing Claudia Kogachi

**2019 New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award (NZPPA) – Winner**

The bright and comical canvases of Claudia Kogachi depict the complicated domestic relationships we all experience to some degree, in a playful and endearing manner. Her new series of work introduces the often-overlooked domestic bystander – the dog. Either asleep under the table or sitting next to the family sofa, the unassuming house pet is privy to everything that goes on. “If only one could clearly communicate to their dog, my mother and I would have had years and years of third party opinion on our disputes.” – Kogachi. Up until March 10th at Sanderson Contemporary.

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Art Fair excitement

With artist announcements coming out around the upcoming Auckland Art Fair, new artist discoveries are plentiful. This month’s Art Fair excitement comes from Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga – with such a fantastic collection of artists, I am looking forward to seeing Mahiriki Tangaroa’s beautiful paintings of abstracted customary cook Island symbols interwoven with tapa or pareu patterns and a succulent palette. Along with the intense hyper-realistic paintings of untampered natural Rarotongan vistas by Mark Cross.

An evening of Samoan delight

The Sau E Siva Creative Team present Rosalina. Told through Contemporary Siva Samoa, live music and soulful harmonies the story is about the legend of a beautiful Samoan maiden and her ten overprotective brothers. A fun story of family, forgiveness, love and reconciliation. If you’re new to the warmth of Samoan culture, then this is a perfect family-friendly introduction. The show runs from the 19^th-23^rd March at Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku. 

Pacific Sisters: He Toa Tāera | Fashion Activists

A collective of Pacific and Māori fashion designers, artists and performers, the Pacific Sisters electrified 1990s Auckland, bringing the ground-breaking style of an urban, New Zealand–born Pacific generation to the mainstream. Through pioneering, daring shows, the Pacific Sisters overturned stereotypes about Pacific culture, ‘dusky maiden’ beauty and sexuality.

Curated by Nina Tonga and toured by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Pacific Sisters is on at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki until July 14.

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Source.

Verve is Auckland’s free lifestyle magazine. It’s a feast of local news & events, personalities, fashion, food, health & beauty, entertainment, travel, real estate and much more. Online publication.

To submit your art event for consideration please email us!

Widget image credits:
Pacific Sisters. Courtesy of Te Papa. Photo by Vivienne Haldane 1993©.
Vaimaila Urale. Courtesy of Sanderson Contemporary.

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The daring maverick of visual humour, David Shrigley

What’s he like anyway?

Currently exhibiting new works on paper at Auckland Art Gallery Two Rooms until March 2nd, David Shrigley chats about his day-to-day activities, comes clean about Thom Yorke (finally) and has a potent message for the Millenials.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 18.02.19

Podcast link HERE.

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Time and time again – in fact for the last 20 years, Shrigley has invigorated the atmosphere of mausoleums, commuter trains and social media with his ubiquitous satirical combination of drawing and text.

How does he maintain such visual fluidity in the art of humour? What inspires him?

If laughter is the cure, then surely Shrigley is a drug. And if Shrigley is the drug, then what are his main ingredients?

Podcast link HERE.

Length: 16:30

Order of Contents:

Introduction – What’s this daring maverick of visual humour really like?

1 – A day in the life of Shrigley

2 – Shrigley’s Process

3 – Shrigley’s Inspiration

4 – Reading and writing

5 – Shrigley comes clean about Thom Yorke.

6 – Fine Art Meme Dude-Ranch Zen

7 – Shrigley Park

8 – Mind-Blowing Art

9 – Influencers

10 – Shrigley’s message for the Millennials

11 – Brexit (can f-off)

12 – Cleanliness.

The end.

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Pre-load your brain by Adding Art Ache to your Spotify playlist!

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More information on:
– David Shrigley (UK)
– Two Rooms Gallery (AKL)
– Stephen Friedman Gallery (LDN)

Very special thanks to David Shrigley and the team at Two Rooms gallery for making the possible. Much love.

Avant-guard Auckland in the ’70s

Contemporary Art curator Natasha Conland shares her discoveries about Auckland’s Avant-garde in the ’70s.

Groundswell: Avant-garde Auckland 1971-79, Auckland Art Gallery until March 31, 2019.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 18.01.19

Podcast link HERE.

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When a broad and deep undulation of the ocean, caused by a distant gale or seismic disturbance occurs it’s called a groundswell.

When a rapid spontaneous growth in support of a political opinion occurs, it’s called a groundswell.

So what happened when a group of Auckland artists started making highly experimental art in the ’70s? Groundswell: Avant-Guard Auckland 71-79.

Podcast link HERE.

Length: 17:00

Order of Contents:

Introduction – Avant-garde Auckland in the ’70s, what more could you want to hear about?

1 – How-to: Crack the mindset of the establishment and get endorsement

2 – Relationships between artists and the Auckland Art Gallery these days

3 – New Zealander’s can be funny

4 – Parallels in art movements between today and the ’70s.

5 – The relevance of Art

6 – How do our artists stack up internationally?

7 – Spray-painting gallery walls.

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Pre-load your brain by Subscribing.

Gone but not forgotten

While people rush to get organized for Christmas and the new year Art Ache and artist Greta Anderson have covered the inner-city with blankets, creating space for pause and reflection.

Art Ache Xmas 2018

“This campaign acknowledges “The Blanket” as a cultural icon. For many this is a season of family time – the blankets are symbolic of children’s play, comfort and security, however, this series also acknowledges those left behind in the city where the billboards are located, the homeless and those without family.” – Aimee Ralfini, Art Ache.

Artist Greta Anderson is a photographer who works with contemporary cultural icons. Items we collectively connect with, which inform our visual identity as a modern Aotearoa. The artist documents items such as blankets, marbles, horses and flowering weeds in an artefactual style reminiscent of National Geographic, awarding the often-overlooked items cultural gravitas.

“For me blankets connect all facets of our heritage, my Māori whakapapa to my Scottish ancestory. They are something we all relate to as New Zealanders connecting our many historical threads, some joyful, some painful – like most families. In this series they are held up proud as mid-century abstract paintings and celebrated as cherished items woven together from our collective heritage.” – Greta Anderson, Artist.

The blankets history as a trade item used between early settlers and māori creates an additional layer of bittersweet irony when presented via a medium associated with advertising ‘trade’. Especially as the LUMO billboards are located in prime advertising real-estate. Notably, the Ports of Auckland billboard, where the blankets reside on the boundary fence, creating a space for conversation around the land owned by Ngāti Whātua Oraki and the reclaimed Ports.

Art Ache is an artist-centric movement in art communication. It aims to make art and culture part of the everyday conversation in New Zealand.
Art Ache believes at the core of every happy healthy society is a strong connection with its cultural ambassadors. Manifesto

For all those Aucklanders who enjoy the emptiness of the city this time of year. This is for you. Merry Christmas xxx

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More Information on artist Greta Anderson: Instagram | Artists website | Dealer Gallery

For further enquiries about the artworks or the artist in relation to this project, please contact Aimee Ralfini.

For press, sponsorship and collaboration enquiries please contact Ricky Martin.

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Locations of work: On display 24th December 2018 – 6th January 2019.
Located on LUMO digital billboards at  Victoria Park  |  Beach Road  |  Khyber Pass  |  Ports of Akld  |  Grey Lynn (Out)  |  Sturdee Street  |  Newton Road  |  Mt Eden (In)  |  Mt Eden (Out).

Special thanks to Kent and Jamie at LUMO digital.

Charles Ninow

Charles Ninow, one half of Bowerbank Ninow is one of a new breed of auctioneers emerging from Auckland’s lively Art Auction scene.

With Auction N11 set for November 28th, supported by a stunning catalogue, we thought it time to talk to the man behind all the excitement.

Recorded live for Art Ache – 22.11.18

Podcast link HERE.

Podcast link HERE.

Length: 18:43

Order of Contents:

Introduction – The New Breed

1 – Bowerbank Ninow – Dealer + Auction House

2 – Art start-up road bumps

3– Charles’ Artistic heritage

4 – Beginning at Webbs, advice for budding auctioneers

5 – Essays and commissioning writers

6 – The Phone In Bidder and their Phone handlers

7 – An excellent app idea

8 – Biggest coo at the upcoming Auction?

Podcast link HERE.

Art Aches Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/artaches

View the full Auction N11 Catalogue at bowerbankninow.com

Robert Wallace

Robert Wallace aka Parallel Teeth is a maker of videos such as Beffy by Ladi6, Rangers by Randa and more recently Hang by Merk.

Live-to-air on 95bFM – 18.10.18.

Vector shapes loosely collide to create characters that move with slippery robotic sway.

Like a bathtub bopping to a symphonic rhythm, Robert Wallace’s animated illustrations are a modern take on the classic caricature of early Warner Bros.

Limited colour palettes are juxtaposed with modernist gradients, and vector shapes are combined in an almost rudimentary style to create quirky and engaging personalities.

Wallace’s use of texture, reminiscent of early Pentium PC / Commodore 64 rasta graphics, sits like icing upon joyously stylised shapes, maximising their sheer simplicity.

Animation clips from Randa’s Rangers video

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Further info: Artists website  |  Instagram.

Original podcast.

Subscribe to podcasts by Aimée Ralfini.

This Kiwi Artist’s Warrior-Vixen Critiques the Portrayal of Women in Virtual Spaces

Welcome to Korean-New Zealander Hye Rim Lee’s fantasyland.

“My 3D‐animation project is a fantasyland where dream and reality mix. It speaks to the manipulation and perception of female sexual identity worldwide and virtualised images of women.”

Lee seeks to create a nostalgic paradise, mingling the world of her childhood with an inorganic cyber world of fantasy, dream and virtual relationships. She’s building a fictional world around her own myths, using “symbols of Asian identity and culture,” familiar virtual iconography, and TOKI, a “highly stylised curvaceous, warrior‐cum‐vixen” to critique virtual worlds.

Conceived in 2002, TOKI parodies the idealised female forms found in “Asian manga and anime culture, computer gaming and cyberculture,” and her name—Korean for rabbit—brings to mind both the innocence of childhood pets and Playboy bunnies. The relationship between sexuality and innocence, reality and fantasy, western and eastern, are all key themes in Lee’s work.

Virtual worlds are often fantasies constructed by white men, and Lee examines the potentially problematic ways they influence us, all the while keeping it personal.

“My work is an unnerving mix of cutesy, saccharine imagery and sexual undertones. My images insert fantastical narratives from my childhood fantasies into a computer-generated Eden-like space,” – Hye Rim Lee.

Written by Joel Thomas for Vice NZ Oct 11th 2018.

Original Article

Further reading: Artists website  |  Instagram.

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Art Ach Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Radio New Zealand | Standing Room Only

Lynn Freeman interviews Art Ache curator Aimee Ralfini

From Standing Room Only, 2:49 pm on 7 October 2018 

Auckland’s about to experience it’s nineteenth Art Ache, which brings together emerging artists and potential buyers, but not in the traditional dealer gallery setting. Design creative and curator Aimée Ralfini came up with the idea to encourage art lovers who aren’t sure where to start by introducing them to a wide range of artists from here and overseas. Aimée studied Fine Arts at Elam and believes that art has an important role to play in keeping communities happy and healthy, The theme for this Art Ache is ‘our future utopia’ – images on this page. This is the first time Aimée has included Art Ache within Auckland Art Week and renowned painter Karl Maughan is pitching in this year to raise the event’s profile. It’s come a long way in the six years since she started it. Art Ache is on the 9th of October part of Artweek Auckland 2018.

Standing Room Only is literally radio with pictures… and arts, theatre, film, comedy, books, dance, entertainment, pop culture, and music – all the things, in other words, that make life worth living.

Listen to the interview |  Source.

The gardens of Karl Maughan – an entrance into the sublime

Written by Annabel Wilson for Art Ache

Late Night Art, Artweek, Heart Of The City, Oct 9 2018.

New Zealand painter Karl Maughan has built a 25 year practice on his signature subject the garden: cultivated spaces, flora, farmland, flowers, parks and paddocks.

Depicted in vibrant, hallucinatory hues, from a distance his works are seemingly photorealistic, up close, however, unfolds an expressive celebration of colour and paint; inviting you into surreal light-filled gardens of wonder.

To engage with his paintings is to be both spectator and fellow wanderer, beckoned on a journey along manicured pathways, mesmerising nooks of manipulated nature, prinked and preened arcadias.

Born in Wellington, growing up in the Manawatu and graduating with Master of Fine Arts from Elam in 1987, Maughan was initially inspired by the tradition of painting en plein-air—as championed by the French artists Boudin and Monet. These days, Maughan prefers to work from photographs, drawing from a vast archive of images and film stills of gardens that he collages together and then paints with thick brushstrokes.

Living and working in the UK in the 90s, he secured his position as one of Aotearoa’s most popular painters. His works deck the walls of the rich and famous and in galleries worldwide – Cate Blanchett is a fan. Next time you’re in Florence, you can find his work at the Art Hotel, or if you’re in the capital, check out his largest painting to date, the enormous and alluring six panel A Clear Day (1999), which is in the permanent collection of Te Papa Tongarewa.

When he was at Art School, Maughan photographed and painted his first garden – at his parent’s home in Ashhurst. Since then, his works have become celebrated for their distinctive style: a navigation of the domestic and the sublime. As he described in an RNZ interview, he continues to return to the subject of the garden for its “endless possibilities”. Indeed, his paintings draw viewers into a world that can be at once enclosed and claustrophobic, and at the same time provide an opening into a fantastical, utopian realm.

Rhododendrons, hydrangeas, wildflowers, hedges, paths: the subjects of his paintings are distinctive for their intricate details and saturated colours as well as their sheer scale.

They’re a comment on the influence humanity has over nature and the ways we intersect with it. Being one half of a creative ‘power couple’ (his wife is the writer Emily Perkins), Maughan’s interest in art spills over into poetry and music, which can be seen in his large book collection in the pair’s Mt Victoria home. Indeed, his work has also been noted for its ‘metaphoric’ quality and can be seen to riff on some of the iconic and archetypal gardens of literature. A stroll through his works conjures thoughts of The Secret Garden, or Austen / Victorian mazes or simply escaping into the fantasy world of the gardens of youth.

Maughan’s paintings can also be linked to the notion of an entrance, as both a noun and a verb. The work he has developed especially for Art Ache’s Studio Sale on Late Night Art comes in the form of 30 long strips of vinyl printed garden imagery from his famous Te Papa Tongarewa work A Clear Day.

Each slice will contain different imagery and be numbered and signed. Selling for $200.00 each, the proceeds from these pieces will be donated to The Women’s Refuge. These pieces promise to entrance the attendees at Art Ache through their verdant allure, so seemingly laden with that ozone-deprived light which typifies New Zealand.

These kaleidoscopic colours, balanced with dark greens and shadows, also bring an entrance into a bright, bold and yet darkly known world. On another level, the empowering aspect of the donation to Women’s Refuge promises to up the feel-good factor of investing in a Maughan piece of your own.

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Written by Annabel Wilson for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Thank you to Karl’s Auckland dealership Gow Langsford for their support in making this possible.

Proceeds from Karls sales and that of Gow Langsfords are being donated to Women’s Refuge.

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Art Ache Collect

Special memorial artworks for everyone to enjoy.

Art Ache Collection. Oct 9 2018.

You can still support (and donate to) the artist and Art Ache by purchasing one of the Art Ache Collect archival prints from our shop.

These artworks are limited and have been created specifically for this particular Art Ache event, with the utopian theme in mind.

If you’re a (not-quite-yet) serious collector who loves Art (Ache) and all it stands for (manifesto).  Purchasing an Art Ache Collect work is the ultimate way to impress your mates, support New Zealand artists and potentially gloat about your wise investment in years to come.

With an ever-changing exquisite collection of artworks, curated from carefully selected artists each Art Ache Collect series stands as a moment in time from our collective history, as part of our New Zealand story.

These Collector pieces are printed on Ilford Fine Art Paper 310gsm with Archival Inks by Fine Art printer Sanji Karu at Skar Image Lab. Paper size: A4 (297 x 210mm). These archival prints have been created with the authority of Karl Maughan, Hye Rim Lee, Layla Walter, Zammia Weatherall and Evie Kemp.

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Event Press Release.

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Evie Kemp

Colourist Evie Kemp chats with Aimée Ralfini about her ongoing series of work Under The Rug which features in the upcoming Art Ache event.

Live-to-air on 95bFM – 27.08.18.

Genitalia that pops, bubbles and cracks with colour!

“Initially I found these works challenged my own ingrained discomfort with the subject matter, but with each new piece my comfort and confidence has grown –  which is reflected in the increase of size, variation, colours of each new work” – Evie Kemp

Evie’s work has created connections and relationships across the world, which further speaks to the strength and sisterhood of feminism in 2018.

“Each piece is as individual as the woman that owns them, and I think that’s so significant. It’s so interesting to see how personal it gets, and how different works speak to different women.” – Evie Kemp

Evie sees these vulvas as every woman she’s ever known and all those she hasn’t yet met – the strength and power she gets from them is intoxicating and full with endless possibilities.

“For me, it’s an ownership of a part of myself I’ve long been ashamed of. Women have been kept down by shame for as long as any records show, so what happens when we no longer feel that shame? When a vulva hangs as a piece of fun artwork in a family home, what happens then?”

Find out on Tuesday – Event night for Art Ache at The Ellen Melville Centre, where we will be ‘gently stickering’ Evie’s snatches around Freyberg Square, with the hope that people will un-peel them and stick them on their own property in our snatch-a-snatch art gift gorilla campaign.

Not in Auckland or can’t make the event? DONT WORRY! We’ve got you sorted :-). You can still support (and donate to) the artist and Art Ache by purchasing one of the Art Ache Collect archival prints from our shop. These artworks are limited and have been created specifically for this particular Art Ache event, with the utopian theme in mind.

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Written by Aimee Ralfini for Art Ache, 9^th October 2018.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Further info: Artists website  |  Instagram.

Subscribe | Shop Art Ache.

Original podcast.

Subscribe to podcasts by Aimée Ralfini.

Artist Profile: Zammia Weatherall

Written by Joel Thomas for Art Ache

Late Night Art, Artweek, Heart Of The City, Oct 9 2018.

Graduating from AUT with a Bachelors in Spatial Design, Zammia Weatherall applies her skills broadly. She’s worked on construction sites, on film sets, designing spaces for events and in art shows, collaborating with the likes of Hye Rim Lee and Paris Kirby.

Her skill set is broad and ever-present. “I interrogate public spaces constantly,” Zammia tells me. “In urban environments, we’re constantly ahead of ourselves or we’re on our phones, we’re not really in the present reality most of the time, and it affects us mentally. Our attention spans.”

This is something that Zammia is always aware of, and constantly trying to fight. She does this through the concept of heterotopias. A heterotopia is a term used to describe spaces, often meaning ‘another utopia.’ A space that is utopic in the way that it seems to sit separate from the world, one where the rules we’re used to existing by are altered, more relaxed. Some examples of this are gardens, festivals, and cinemas. In her work, Zammia creates heterotopic spaces using light, sound, spatial design. She also captures them with photography.

Zammia takes photos of buildings, nature, whatever spaces she can find that seem heterotopic. The experimental filmstock she uses adds to this feeling of otherworldliness. Not only does the grainy filmic nostalgia add a dreamy layer to the images, the filmstock also plays with colours, making them pinker, more vivid. “Poppy” is the term she uses to describe her work. When I ask her to explain the term ‘poppy’, she tells me it, “represents colour, fun, something that’s going to stand out and take your attention. You’re not going to ignore it. You’re not going to just walk past it. It’s noticeable.”

I ask why it’s important for her work to be poppy.
“Because, it needs to make you stop and be current and present in the space, and not be where you need to be in fifteen minutes, and not be where you were fifteen minutes ago. You need to be fully present.”

This is important in a heterotopic space. You’re not going there to stress out, it’s not a hallway or a street for you to simply move through, you’re there to experience the space and what it has to offer. It’s a break from the real world, a space where you can “just be.”

The colour pink is also important in Zammia’s work. Not only does it help build spaces into more of a dreamspace, it also has a deep mental effect on our bodies and how we feel in the space. “The colour pink is known to lower your heart rate and physically weaken you, to slow your breathing. They’ve used it in prisons…”

The colour tones of Zammia’s work also come with an assertion of femininity. She’s making us question the default of masculinity in spaces. “I feel like a lot of the time gender neutral was actually based on the masculine,” and this is important as we need to grow up with access to diversity, not just in the content we consume, but in the spaces we live in. I know I would feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin if I had more access to feminine spaces as I was growing up if I was told that masculinity is not the default.

“I think little spacial breaks are important. It’s like having a cup of tea, you know, you need to step back and have a moment every now and then. For some people, it’s having a cigarette, but we can do that spatially.” We all need breaks, but we don’t always want to break in spaces we can’t identify with.

Collaboration is important for Weatherall. She works with artists, employers, builders, designers, etc. “More brains are better than less brains,” she says. It can be argued that this collaboration even extends to her photography where Weatherall captures spaces, and therefore is collaborating with the creators of those spaces. The builders, the architects, the painters, they all contribute to the vision. “Sometimes, it’s collaborating with mother nature,” Weatherall says.

Zammia Weatherall is showing us real, tangible spaces where we can exist uninhibited. Heterotopias, made by teams of people working together.

–

Written by Joel Thomas for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Further reading: Artists website  |  Instagram.

–

Subscribe | Shop Art Ache.

Not in Auckland or can’t make the event? DONT WORRY! We’ve got you sorted :-). You can still support (and donate to) the artist and Art Ache by purchasing one of the Art Ache Collect archival prints from our shop. These artworks are limited and have been created specifically for this particular Art Ache event, with the utopian theme in mind.

Artist Profile: Layla Walter

Written by Anusha Bhana for Art Ache

Late Night Art, Artweek, Heart Of The City, Oct 9 2018.

Refined. Elegant. Meditative. Ephemeral. Contemplative. Poignant – just some of words used to describe the work of Layla Walter.

We live in a world increasingly plagued by complex environmental, social and political issues, and pursue lives that are filled to the brim with competing demands. So art that captures a positive feeling, invokes a sense of calm and contemplation, allowing us to take a deep breath and recharge, can provide much needed mental and emotional relief.

Herein lies the essential nature of Layla Walters’ artworks.

“Beautiful objects are my voice – promoting peace by making objects of beauty.” – Layla Walter

Born in Wellington and raised in the unique natural and creative environment of the Coromandel Peninsula, Layla Walter is one of Aotearoa’s most critically acclaimed cast glass artists. Her work resides internationally in gallery and museum collections, as well as in the homes of high profile celebrities.

When it came to a decision between pursuing a career in nursing or art, Layla credits her chosen career path to a Tibetan Lama’s insight during a Buddhist retreat in Kathmandu at age 18 -“it’s more beneficial to others if you do art school” he told her.  A Bachelor of Design degree majoring in 3D Glass at Unitec in Auckland soon ensued, introducing Layla to lecturer and glass artist Elizabeth McClure. This was closely followed by a 15-year stint working alongside celebrated cast glass art pioneer Ann Robinson, who mentored her in the ancient art of lost wax casting, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Layla’s cast glass creations epitomises what it means to embrace the organic forms of the natural environment and explore our relationship with nature and each other, “All of my work pretty much relates to people and places of importance to me and that’s just something that’s a thread within my own work. For me, I don’t exist without the kindness of others.”

The vessel, an essentially domestic object, often impersonal and machine-made has been reimagined by Layla into one that is personal, delicate and unique. Each vessel champions nature – blossoms, buds, birds, linear abstract forms that appear and disappear from the mass of glass.

When at Unitec studying art, Layla had a sculpture teacher who upon observing her practice one day said “You’re doing what women have done for centuries, you’re holding a vessel in your lap and working it with your hands”. For Layla making vessels is “a homage to the everyday and the domestic, and to the everyday living of lives.”

On display at Art Ache will be a selection of cast glass vessels alongside a new series of watercolour prints produced with guidance from iconic printmaker/painter and fellow Coromandel-ite, Stanley Palmer.

The print series depicts the symbolic Camelia flower in honour of Suffrage 125, alongside a vinyl cut white camellia to be affixed to the exterior of the of the Ellen Melville Centre’s Betty Wark Room and surrounding area, both projects a first for Layla.

The white Camellia is symbolic of the women’s suffrage movement, the flower presented to those members of the House of Representatives who had voted in favour of women gaining the vote in 1893.

Stanley and Layla’s professional relationship extends beyond Art Ache. In 2013 they co-exhibited works at Melanie Roger Gallery – Stanley a series of landscape prints based on his time spent on Great Mercury Island, Layla a series of cast glass vessels also based on time spent on the island, echoing Stanley’s imagery and colour palette.

This year Stanley and Layla joined forces again, Layla describing the experience with fondness on Instagram:

“He said “I’m not going to do this for you” smiling, but really he has been right there, spent several hours in the morning mixing the colours just right, then left me to it. Me working on the kitchen table, him in the studio. Late in the day he filled in some of the stems indigo grey.”

Amid the luminescent hues of turquoise, grassy green, lemon yellow, indigo, magenta and lilac lie expertly crafted artworks that capture an aesthetic beauty that charms the viewer. Layla Walter is, like her cast glass vessels, a beacon for warmth, beauty and compassion in a world that can all too often feel cold and ugly.

–

Written by Anusha Bhana for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release.

Layla’s Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Further reading: Artists website |  Instagram

Aimée Ralfini interviews Layla – listen to the podcast.

Subscribe | Shop Art Ache.

Not in Auckland or can’t make the event? DONT WORRY! We’ve got you sorted :-). You can still support (and donate to) the artist and Art Ache by purchasing one of the Art Ache Collect archival prints from our shop. These artworks are limited and have been created specifically for this particular Art Ache event, with the utopian theme in mind.

Gary Silipa

Gary Silipa chats with Aimee about his current practice and his plans for Changing Lanes in Durham Street East for Auckland Artweek from Oct 6th-12th.

Podcasted from live-to-air on 95bFM. 20.09.18

Silipas’ expression has grown from his youthful interest in outdoor graffiti to studio-based work which is influenced by his creative heritage and shaped by the artists’ involvement in religion and science fiction.

Always attuned to the importance of making art that exists outdoors, Gary will be creating a street-long installation called Charm Bracelet for Auckland Artweek. As part of Changing Lanes, his work will reference Auckland’s unique heritage and signal the changing nature of the city’s urban spaces and potential future use of the sites.

From Highbrow to monobrow and everything in between, Aimée Ralfini offers a weekly morsel of Who Arted what, where and when, to keep your salivary glands going until you get your next art fix. 15 minutes of brain sharpening art content every week right here.

Original podcast.

Subscribe.

Artist Profile: Karen Rubado

Written by Anusha Bhana for Art Ache

LOT23, 26th July 2018.

What happens to that meaning and value once an object becomes obsolete?

Do we take it and reassign it something else, something better? Do we take the time to question the journey the object has been on prior to being in our possession? Do we actively consider what happens to the object once it is no longer of use to us?

Karen Rubado’s practice is a culmination of these questions, an investigation into the nature of objects and the appearance – disappearance – reappearance of value. Taking these objects, most of which are destined for a landfill or a pile of inorganic waste awaiting collection on the side of the road, she literally weaves them into something beautiful and art gallery worthy. Therein lies the ‘value’ of her work.

Born in Christchurch, Karen spent the majority of her life in the United States living a somewhat nomadic existence with her parents. This gypsy-esque life of constant uprooting and replanting of her family in a multitude of locations made it relatively easy for Karen to return to her native New Zealand 13 years ago.

After completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at AUT in 2015, Karen is now a Master of Fine Arts candidate at Elam School of Fine Arts and a practising contemporary artist. Her art practice is multi-faceted involving weaving, sculpture, installation, drawing and digital media.

The works themselves are varied, some are hanging tapestries interwoven with objects, usb cables, powerboards, VHS tapes, and others are more sculptural, large pieces of discarded metal again interwoven with a range of objects occupying large open spaces.

“The act of reconstructing refuse into art places value on the worthless, while also reintroducing it into society as something to be valued.”  – Source

Her art practice boldly delves into the fickle nature of our relationship with everyday objects, the unmaking and remaking process of these objects challenging the notion of value. The latest series utilises the out-moded craft of handweaving, a newly mastered technique inspired by a trip to Thailand last year.

“Through unmaking and making I contribute to and expand a material’s archive: collecting memories and experiences, and telling a story of people, places and things.” – Source

The marriage of disassembled mass-produced objects – complete with traces of human use, with delicate and time-consuming handiwork, draws these once useless objects into the forefront of a now ‘valuable’ piece of ‘art’.

Her most recent exhibition of work at the Auckland Art Fair 2018, entitled Current Situation, consisted of a hanging wall tapestry woven out discarded cords and cables, copper, wool and galvanised steel.

There is no doubt that Karen’s work is an all at once powerful commentary on our quite often self-indulgent consumerist society, challenging us to reconsider our materialistic tendencies.

–

Written by Anusha Bhana for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Further reading: Artists website |  Instagram  |  Art Fair 2018 project  |  Elam profile

Cam Edward

Painter Cam Edward answers the hard questions around the intentional/unintentional flaws in his paintings and bonds with Aimée over Sims City.

Live-to-air on 95bFM – 09.08.18.

The first look at Cam Edward’s impressive abstract paintings might suggest his forms are digitally produced. But on closer inspection, it is revealed that these works are the result of masterful masking and colour gradient painting techniques.
This blurring between the handmade and the technologically aided is at the centre of the artist’s practise, as Edward explores the space between contemporary painting and the digital world. – Black Door gallery

“The gradients and crisp masking is just as much an act of artistic vanity as it is about portraying an un-planned, non-designed moment of human-machine interaction. I choose to portray this with paint, a tactile and demanding medium that existed well before the digital age”. – Cam Edward.

Art Investment Do’s and Dont’s

Written for Verve Magazine by Aimée Ralfini.

Published 08.08.18

Like art but don’t know where to start? Aimée Ralfini asked for some tips on what to do and what to avoid from a selection of Auckland’s top art insiders, here is their advice.

DO >>>>

Anna Jackson – Director, Gow Langsford Gallery

“Do your research! Visit lots of galleries, build relationships with dealers and get to know the artists they represent. Once you find artists that you like, follow their careers and consider what they have already achieved. How long have they been practising for? Does the artist have an established exhibition history? Are they included in exhibitions at public institutions? Which collections hold their works? The more of these boxes you can check off, the more information you have in deciding the level at which you are comfortable investing.”

Jenny Todd – Director, Two Rooms Gallery

“Always buy large and typical of an artist’s work – you have to love it. Investments may be short- or long-term so you want to be able to live with it happily.”

Dr Maria Walls – Head of Postgraduate Studies, Media Design School

“Consider why you want to collect art —well beyond interior décor. Art leaks into life — your buying decisions eventually affect culture.”

Deborah White ONZM – Director, Whitespace Gallery and Artweek

“Look, look and look again. People spend so much time researching a car or fridge before purchase and yet rush into buying art. Read about the work or ask the artist or the dealer, understand what’s behind their ideas and concepts. Always buy what you love, what uplifts you every time you look at it. If you are lucky it may also appreciate in value and you have had the pleasure of living with it every day.”

AVOID >>>>

Jenny Todd – Director, Two Rooms Gallery

“Buying anything you don’t like. Make sure the work has enduring material qualities, ie. it doesn’t physically change over time.”

Anna Jackson – Director, Gow Langsford Gallery

“Rushing! It’s worth investing the time to get the right piece. Most of all don’t buy anything you don’t like.  It’s not all about the money, art is for enjoying. If you wouldn’t like to see it on your wall every day, it’s probably not for you.”

Dr Maria Walls – Head of Postgraduate Studies,  Media Design School

“Don’t buy art on a whim. Visit and re-visit the work/s you have in your sight. Seek informed and critical feedback on the item you have in mind.”

Deborah White ONZM – Director, Whitespace Gallery

“Good art never goes out of fashion – never buy an artwork because it is currently trendy.”

Upshot >>>>

I wish I had asked for this advice before I broke some of the cardinal rules laid out here. I am very guilty of buying art on a whim, however, I am also guilty of buying exquisite works of beauty, which fill my mind with joy and create new pathways of pleasure every time I look at them.

So my top tip on investing in art? Read the advice given here and know this:

“The best investment in art is to live with it and get involved with it because it will nourish your brain more than dollars in the bank ever will.”

–

Written by: Aimée Ralfini for Verve Magazine.

Read original publication

Featured image (widget): André Hemer. Big-Node-#36, 2016. Courtesy of Gow Langsford Gallery.

Thomas Pound

Visual Poet Thomas Pound chats with Aimée Ralfini about his latest series The Instance, currently on display in Government House, Auckland.

Live-to-air on 95bFM. 02.08.18

It was a warm winters afternoon when I met up with artist Thomas Pound to check out his latest show The Instance, currently on at Government House. Government House is strange and wonderful place, full of displays of bowls, archival information, uniformed chairs and allocated rooms which all sit empty among the heady smell of institutional carpet and wood polish – something one would be familiar with if they went to boarding school.

“Thomas Pound has a unique, curious eye refined by years of film-making, theatre design, museum exhibits and found-object sculpture. For his latest visual harvest, once again, he collects from the streets. A hundred Instagram squares richly informed… This is vital visual poetry for all creative readers.” – Roger Horrocks, Emeritus Professor at the University of Auckland.

From Highbrow to monobrow and everything in between, Aimée Ralfini offers a weekly morsel of Who Arted what, where and when, to keep your salivary glands going until you get your next art fix. 15 minutes of brain sharpening art content every week right here.

Artist Profile: Katherine Atafu-Mayo

Written by Joel Thomas for Art Ache

LOT23, 26th July 2018.

Katharine Atafu-Mayo makes art that explores her personal experiences of cultural identity and tradition. Atafu-Mayo invites us into her life, sharing traditional recipes and telling stories with tapa, engaging us with fond memories that make her feel at home.

Katharine Atafu-Mayo leads a life of communication, starting cultural conversations with her work, performing spoken word poetry and when she’s not studying, helping other people communicate by fixing internet connections as a part-time job. Despite this constant engagement with others, her communication with herself and her own identity is just as important.

Atafu-Mayo’s mother is Samoan and her father is European, they raised her and her two sisters in Te Atatu, before the family moved to Grafton. As a child, she got to engage with artist and creatives because of her father’s work at the Auckland Museum and was constantly engaged in art through both of her parents.

“My parents are advocates for embracing differences and culture. That’s something that I carry throughout my day to day life.”

Despite previously having a “feeling of inadequacy” as a result of “being afakasi’ (the Samoan word for mixed heritage), she has become more comfortable with her own experiences with Samoan culture and believes the wealth she draws from this is worth sharing with the wider sphere. One way she does this is by sharing traditional Samoan recipes with a distinct aesthetic; her recipes are hand type in pink ink, her tapa are printed with her own stories and emotions. The traditional work is engaging with a personal and modern process in an effort to reflect her current world.

“Throughout my art practice, I often bring the indigenous Samoan culture into the white cube to reaffirm that it is not a historical remnant but a living part of contemporary society.”

Atafu-Mayo aims to create “contemporary tapa” (or siapo in Samoan) by presenting her own symbols, feelings and emotions to an audience with the traditional method of storytelling. Despite admitting she doesn’t understand everything about being Samoan, Katharine Atafu-Mayo engages with Samoan culture in her own personal way.

Written by Joel Thomas for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release    |    Art Ache Collection Artwork.

Want more!? Aimée Ralfini interviewed Katherine for 95bFM, listen to the Podcast.

Or follow Katherine on Instagram @kattymayo

Nightmarish but cute

Joel Thomas on Greg Page

For Art Ache at LOT23, 26th July 2018.

As a filmmaker in New Zealand, I guess it’s expected for Greg Page’s work to be a bit gothic. His paintings are like kids picture books if horror was a popular genre among eight-year-olds. They’re nightmarish but cute, familiar but uncomfortable. It’s these opposites that keep him so interesting.

Page was born in Palmerston North where he went to Freyberg High School before heading off to Hamilton to pursue tertiary studies and then begin his career in film. A successful commercial director, Page has also made endless music videos for acts like Six60, Elemenop, and The D4. He has also played drums in multiple bands and has pursued a successful career as a painter. His work has been exhibited across the country, including in collections such as The Wallace Arts Trust. Recently, he made the music video for Julia Dean’s The Panic, which features animated hand-drawn charcoal drawings accompanied by film work.

Greg Page has a talent in adding an uncomfortable element to the comfortable, making us reassess our familiar surroundings and what exactly we like about them. Probably something he enjoys, considering the rural gothic horror film The Locals which he directed in 2003.

In his work we see large dogs scribbled in black, homely settings with doors that you can practically hear creaking, human bodies filling the frame in a way that’s a little bit less than human. His work all seems to take place in a void, a surreal world reminiscent of Courage the Cowardly dog, the stuff of children’s nightmares but without being explicitly scary. Like all good horror settings, what makes his work uncomfortable is the stuff he doesn’t show you rather than what you can see.

You never see the monsters behind the doors, you never know what the looming scribbled dogs have planned, but you definitely are not going to try and find out.

It’s one thing for an artists to make their own work good, but it’s difficult to make good work which also complements the work of others. Greg Page has found multiple successful career paths doing collaborative work across disciplines, showcasing his success as a New Zealand creative that understands his discipline and how to make it stand out.

Written by Joel Thomas for Art Ache.

Further information:

Greg Page Art Ache Archival Print (available for July 2018 only).

Article on Greg and Julia Deans around the animated music video The Panic.

Podcast of Interview between Greg Page, Julia Deans and Michael Havoc on 95bFM.

Event Press Release.

Creative collaborations

Julia deans to play homage to the artist behind the visuals of her animated video for song The Panic in an intimate performance at Art Ache.

What happens when you combine the silky tones of singer-songwriter Julia Deans with the hard lines of artist Greg Page? Well, something quite beautiful actually.

The Panic video was both animated and edited by Greg Page, one of Julia’s long-term collaborators.  The clip is over 6,000 frames of art, which took over two months to create.

“I deliberately kept it loose and the black and white was a conscious decision to set the story in a dream or memory where colour is scared to go.  The rough scratchy style was me drawing honestly and without worry. I feel the scratchiness is the perfect accompaniment to that kick ass beat and bass line.

Julia invested a lot of trust not only that I would complete the clip, but in the concept which grew organically and slowly over time. I am proud to have made ‘The Panic’ and felt like Julia gifted me one of the best songs to be inspired by.” – Greg Page.

The concept of The Panic video follows a small girl who gets a puppy.  Unlike the usual pet stories, this puppy is not a pet, but a black panic dog that the little girl now owns for life.

As she grows up and her awareness of the dog increases, the larger it becomes until eventually, rather than letting it consume her, she takes charge and breaks the big panic dog into smaller manageable pups.

“The Panic is about learning to live with our fears & anxieties – with depression. It’s about recognising that all of us harbour these feelings in our own varying forms and, at one time or another, we have to work out how to keep them in check & reign them in before they take over.” – Julia Deans.

Mikey Havoc interviewed the pair on 95bFM’s Breakfast show on the 25th July. The podcast can be accessed on the 95bFM b-cast library here.

Art Ache returns July 26 at LOT23, from 5pm. Featuring artists Judy Darragh, Paula Friis, Katharine Atafu-Mayo, Olyvia Hong, Karen Rubado and Greg Page.

The event has been curated by Natalie Tozer, Julia Deans will be performing a selection of songs from her latest album, including The Panic.

ADDRESS  LOT23, 23 Minnie St, Eden Terrace, Auckland
ON-SALE  Selected artworks, studio treasures at entry level prices. Limited Art Ache collector prints are also available nationwide for $50 each, from Sunday 8th for the month of July at artache.com.

The event is FREE entry and non-ageist. BRING CASH.

Artist Profile: Olyvia Hong

Written by Pearl McGlashan for Art Ache

LOT23, 26th July 2018.

Olyvia Hong is an Auckland-based artist whose primary interest lies in painting. Through fast and intuitive methods, Hong’s work looks to the practice of self-mythologizing among other modes of internal examination. Formally, Hong uses found supports, such as desk drawers, cut-up canvases and fabrics and combines them with paint, plaster, resin, found text and pop-culture images.

Born and raised in Auckland, Hong moved around a lot across the areas of Central, South and East Auckland and this upbringing taught her to be “light on [her] feet”. Her upbringing presents itself in her practice, as Hong says, she couldn’t be hugely attached to material things because she was constantly moving and shifting. So traces of the places she has been, people she has formed relationships with are recorded on to flat surfaces, like photographs, drawings, notes, and these form the background to the workings of her painting practice.

These photographs, letters, notes and splinters of her former selves sometimes appear in her work and traces of them form a background to the fragmentary nature of her painting practice.

Hong cites the work of Brazilian artist Paulo Nimer Pjota as a recent source of inspiration. Nimer Pjota, like Hong, is a painter, whose large-scale canvas works incorporate collage using sacks, scrap metal that he finds in junkyards or in the streets of his hometown. Another artist she looks to is Eric N. Mack, who Hong says she admires in the ways that his practice seeks to “extend and transform the notion painting”. Mack’s use of textiles, worn clothes, blankets and torn rags, alongside photographs and pull outs from books and magazines can be aligned with Hong’s own practice of creating sculptures-cum-paintings.

For Art Ache Olyvia presented pieces from her undergraduate years at Elam along with some works made the previous summer during a research scholarship project. The cobbled-together nature of the collected works and the differences is indicative of shifting identities, of her learning new things all the time; of play; the capacity for making art to harbour anonymity.

The cobbled-together nature of the collected works and the differences is indicative of shifting identities, of her learning new things all the time; of play; the capacity for making art to harbour anonymity.

After completing her undergraduate BFA (Honours, first class) at Elam, Hong has gone on in her studies and is undergoing a Master of Fine Arts. In tandem with her current studies, Hong is employed as graduate teaching assistant at Elam. Some previous group shows include I Understand If You’re Busy, RM Gallery (2018), Rabbit on the Moon, Hapori Vol. 6 (2017), Protagonist, Projectspace Gallery (2017) and Dog Pit, Satchi&Satchi&Satchi (2017).

–

Written by Pearl McGlashan for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

More Olyvia!

Artist Profile: Judy Darragh

Written by Annabel Wilson for Art Ache

LOT23, 26th July 2018

Irrepressible. Irreverent. Iconoclast: Judy Darragh trawls modern day detritus to create assemblages and installations which engage deeply with pop culture, toying with ideas around gender, cultural norms and humour.

“I am interested in making repetitious silent, simple and reductive filmic moments. I use moving image as a non-narrative, repeating short sequences to undermine the expectation of time passing. Like a photograph, an analogue moment is stretched over time and gets glitched and stuck on repeat.”

A mainstay of our contemporary art scene, Darragh has been widely exhibited across Aotearoa since her emergence during the conspicuous consumption of the 80s era. Born in Christchurch, she completed a Diploma in Visual Communication and Design at the Wellington Polytechnic and has taught at tertiary level for many years. Her works are held in various major collections including Auckland City Art Gallery, New Plymouth’s Govett-Brewster and Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Christchurch. In 2004 the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa featured a major retrospective of her work curated by Natasha Conland and entitled ‘Judy Darragh: So … you made it?’

Darragh has been pivotal in the establishment of multiple New Zealand art institutions including ARTSPACE, Teststrip and Cuckoo – an initiative that organises shows in various galleries or spaces. She is represented by Two Rooms Gallery and Jonathan Smart Gallery and her book Arts Society: Judy Darragh was published in partnership by Te Tuhi and Clouds Publishing.

Darragh is renowned for her multi-disciplined and multi-media works in which she reinvents existing materials to critique cultures of consumption and subvert societal norms. Her installations alter public spaces with exuberant effect, playing with the intersection of kitsch, sci-fi and domestic life. Colourful, viscous, visceral; her works are known for their bold aesthetic. Incorporating media ranging from bottles, glassware and plastic to corks, foil, fluoro wigs, foam, silicon, folded paper, feathers, tikis, beads, paint, flowers, stickers, paua, cake tins and furniture, Darragh alters form and function of her found objects to construct new meanings and contexts. It is this process of reimagining that is most significant, and alluring. To wander through one of her collections is to be drawn into a world in which the familiar shifts wryly into fetish or fantastical.

Written by Annabel Wilson for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

More Judy Darragh! Courtesy of Two Rooms Gallery.

Artist Profile: Paula Friis

Written by Rebecca Tune for Art Ache at LOT23, Auckland.

26th July 2018.

Automatic drawings – a process of creation made famous by the surrealists, is used as a way to access imagery from deep within the subconscious. Paula Friss applies this process to all aspects of her work, resulting in a final product that presents many fluid paths of seductive pareidolic colours and shapes.

Born in sunny Hawkes Bay Paula Friis now lives in Warkworth, Auckland. Paula was a finalist in the 2016 Wallace Awards and gained her Masters of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe College in 2018.

Friis has a wonderfully unique way of working which sees her first immersing herself in the natural environment during long walks in the Pohuehue Bush. This allows Friis space, time and a reprieve from ‘endless mind chatter’ and ‘information overload’ so that her mind can empty itself of noise and allow her to access her subconscious mind.

It is at this point the creative process begins. With heightened awareness of her surroundings and releasing herself to that space between the physical self and the natural environment, Friis starts drawing with as little thought as possible. These drawings are a nod to Surrealists artists who employed the method of automatic drawing to access imagery from deep within their subconscious.

It is in this subconscious space that encounters occur with endless possibilities and the natural environment allows direct, true experiences to take place.

Paula controls the fluidity of her automatic drawings and continued process of creation that stems from them with a sequence of strict rules.

‘The rules are simple. Drawings are always done in pencil, in a black journal and drawn faster than my mind can keep up.’

Back in Friis’s studio begins the process of developing these automatic drawings into shapes of colour. Shapes that will be layered and juxtaposed together to form a new pictorial language that is at once spontaneous and intuitive. In this journey of extracting shapes and collaging them together the act of Pareidolia takes place.

Pareidolia: 

Pareidolia is the psychological phenomenon where the mind reacts intuitively to a stimulus (in this case coloured shapes) and sees recognizable shapes where none exist.

A common Pareidolia is the ‘Man in the Moon’, where people think they can see a face in the surface of the moon. The viewer observes both an emotional state and identity to the subject simultaneously. This happens before the conscious mind can begin to process the information presented.

Care is taken by Friis not to create a recognizable storyboard when choosing from her library of shapes to collate together in her collages. It is only once these collages are complete that the infinite possibilities of a pictorial language begin to evolve into a storyboard. The beauty of this is that often the story the artist will see is not the same as the observer. Everyone’s response is unique.

At times Friis leaves these shapes as coloured cutouts much like that of Matisse’s cutouts and Paul Klee’s fluid shapes. Other times these coloured card shapes evolve into paint and contrasting textural surfaces that play against the clean edges of the cutouts.

The art of Paula Friis is at all times in a state of flux and organic growth as the viewer processes the pictorial imagery Friis has chosen to present them with. The exciting thing about this is that the longer the viewer spends with the work, the more complex, powerful and seductive the storyboard becomes. It is the flow of the subconscious and its endless paths.

Written by Rebecca Tune for Art Ache, 26^th July 2018.

Podcasted interview with Aimee Ralfini.

Event Press Release.

Art Ache Collection Artwork.

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Artist Profile: Daniel Blackball Alexander

Written by Joel Thomas for Art Ache by Candlelight, Dunedin.

21st June 2018.

The crunchy colours of autumn leaves set the tone for Daniel ‘Blackball’ Alexander’s work which often depicts people as they navigate the outside forces of surreal spaces with resilience and elegance.

We see eyes beaming down on the figures, hands reaching from nowhere. A man climbs up a ladder out of the darkness and into a lush garden, another man’s wheelchair has been stolen by an arcade-style claw yet he has fallen with grace and style.

Daniel ‘Blackball’ Alexander works from a Dunedin attic, where he also co-runs the artist space and cassette label The Attic, a label which features artists such as Anthonie Tonnon and Lucy Hunter. Alexander’s work has been featured on gig posters, record covers, runways, beer bottles, as well as by the publications Critic, Te Arohi, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Wired Italia. Currently, he is the creative director for the microbrewery New New New.

Alexander was born in Dunedin, raised in Nelson and studied design communication at the Otago Polytechnic School of Design, though he says due to its minor role in the curriculum, his illustration skills are largely self-taught. Alexander works broadly with illustration, collage, and video and even though he’s drawn to Bauhaus and De Stijl movements he wants to draw from whatever he can for his projects.

‘It’s important to me to not put anyone project in one basket. I’m always interested in and attracted to projects that can bring together and merge design, typography, art, and illustration, regardless of whether its a personal project, an editorial piece, or something for a corporate client.’

A striking example of Alexander’s work is the illustration Lemon Hand, which was made when he worked at Critic magazine. The work features a hand reaching for a very small lemon, tucked away in the corner of a plate. The hand literally fades away into the rusty background. This was an illustration for an article about lemon detox diets. Lemon Hand shows Alexander’s ability to squeeze emotion and feeling into his depictions of a simple action.

‘I do remember being bemused at how ridiculous and over the top it was’ – Daniel Alexander.

Daniel ‘Blackball’ Alexander shows the absurdity of our navigation through modern spaces with clever and bold illustration, he also reminds us that we can attempt to push through these spaces with grace, by slapping on a nice thick corduroy coat to fight the off cold.

Written by Joel Thomas for the Dunedin Art Ache by Candlelight, 21st June 2018.

Artist: Daniel Blackball-Alexander

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Motoko Kikkawa

Written by Rebecca Tune for Art Ache by Candlelight, Dunedin.

21st June 2018.

Born in Hino, Tokyo, Motoko Kikkawa arrived in Dunedin; New Zealand’s South Island creative hub in 2004. Upon arriving it didn’t take Kikkawa long to immerse herself in Dunedin’s creative community.

Kikkawa’s many and varied works range from small, delicate ink and watercolour drawings on paper, through to both solo violin performances and collaborative sound experiments. These works seamlessly flow from one to the other and embody notions of flux, organic growth and infinite possibilities. ­

Attending Dunedin School of Art provided Kikkawa with a solid platform to begin her research and ongoing relationship with Dunedin’s growing sound art movement. In the beginning, it enabled Kikkawa to connect and communicate with her peers as she sought to find her space in Dunedin’s art scene. This sound art movement was to become the beating heart to Kikkawa’s art practice.

“When I am making objects, I recall past conversations. When I play music, I play as if I am having a new conversation with the person I am performing with”

Motoko Kikkawa’s work to date has been prolific, varied and enquiring. She speaks of walking and the search on her walks for material to feed her art practice. Material that is not tied necessarily to physical artifacts but more abstract concepts of war, sadness, disease and desire. She speaks of conversations, the fluidity of conversations and her recall of them.

Motoko’s incredible intricacy and life is what drew Art Ache by Candlelight curator Phoebe Lysbeth-McKenzie to the mesmerising works of Motoko Kikkawa.

“I relish the opportunity of including such a quintessential figure of the Dunedin art and underground music scene in this event!” – Phoebe Lysbeth-MacKenzie.

Written by Rebecca Tune for the Dunedin Art Ache by Candlelight, 21st June 2018.

Artist: Motoko Kikkiwa

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Artist Profile: Ed Ritchie

Written by Phoebe Lysbeth-Mackenzie for Art Ache by Candlelight, Dunedin.

21st June 2018.

When asked to curate this years Dunedin Art Ache’s I knew instantly that It must feature the work of Ed Ritchie. Ed is one of the most present and contemporary thinkers in Dunedin’s current art scene. He has an extraordinary ability to pause time itself…. warmly inviting us all to take a deep breath in and consider the precarious nature of our own fragile realities.

Dunedin artist Ed Ritchie grew up in Dunedin, along west harbour in the quiet suburb of Ravensbourne. Time and place play an integral part in how he works. Ritchie is a multidisciplinary artist who works responsively to given environments, to inhabit the ‘in-between’ space with his sculptural assemblages.

Inspired by second hand stores, free piles, storage space, cupboards, renovation and slow sounds, Ritchie often works with found materials, which he incorporates with drawing, painting and sculpting – to conceptually shape thought.  

“My work ruminates on the transitory and ephemeral nature of our institutional environments. While speculating on the materiality that inhabits its in-between spaces, It explores distractive human nature and the precarious existence of our material identities, working quickly and responsively to ensure the energy of the objects equates to the ‘finished’ sculpture”.

Ed is based in Dunedin, has a Bachelor of Visual Arts with honours from Dunedin School of Art and is inspired by Martin Creed, Kate Newby, Zac Langdon-Pole and Hany Armanious are some of the Visual artists I admire for their clear, simple and conceptual approach to material.

Written by Phoebe Lysbeth MacKenzie for the Dunedin Art Ache by Candlelight, 21st June 2018.

Artist: Ed Ritchie

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With thanks to Dirt Gallery.

Artist Profile: Holly Aitchison

What Lies Beneath: Scratching the surface with Holly Aitchison

Written by Annabel Wilson.

Following a rural upbringing in Mataura and Invercargill, Holly Aitchison escaped the “apathy, deeply embedded prejudices and backwards thinking” of turn-of-the-century Southland for the (somewhat) sunnier climes of Dunedin where she now lives and works. A fascination with skeletons, beasts of the wild and images from old books and magazines makes its way into her work, which riffs on themes of death, anatomy, feminism and isolation.

“I am an autodidact who specializes in drawing with ink, graphite and charcoal and painting in oil and water colour. My work is primarily representational and touches on themes of death, osteology, anatomy, feminism and isolation. I work during the day teaching art to adults with intellectual disabilities at an IDEA Services funded daybase, my aim being the mainstreaming of capable artists that I work with and fostering their own unique art practices.” – Holly Aitchinson

She’s inspired by her crew of contemporaries in the Dunedin art scene. “I am so lucky to be part of an incredible community down here; I adore the work of painters Sharon Singer and Tony Bishop and photographer Esta De Jong. They are all artists who lift the grotty carpet of life to give you a peek at what may lie underneath.” Aitchison also lists other ‘famous’ influences: “I adore Paula Rego. Her vision captures the dark horror of everyday life, it rewards inspection and contemplation and I find myself really drawn into her pieces.

“I adore Paula Rego. Her vision captures the dark horror of everyday life”

I love portraiture; one of my favourite series was by a Scottish artist called Joan Eardly who painted street kids in Glasgow; grubby, bug-eyed and full of life, I get a lot of joy from these paintings. Other famous artists I enjoy are Edward Hopper, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Joe Coleman, Goya…”

With its intimate honesty, her self-taught style embraces experimentation. Her recent collages are populated with animals which, for Aitchison “feel like a more pure representation of humanity, not clogged with the trappings of society or defined by strange, abstract concepts such as religion or politics or capitalism.” Sourced from a bunch of books scored at the infamous Regent 24 Hour Book Sale, the collages were borne of a time of upheaval for the artist, when “I was in the process of leaving my marriage and turning my world upside down. I longed for nature to stage an uprising, to obliterate humanity so that we could start over, fresh… so I ended up creating it!”

Written by Annabel Wilson for the Dunedin Art Ache by Candlelight, 21st June 2018.

Artist: Holly Aitchinson

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Artist Profile: John Ward Knox

‘As a traveller at home and abroad I value depth over breadth of experience, chance above planning.’

Written by Joel Thomas.

The most recent work of John Ward Knox is poetically documentarian. Despite finding success making work in a studio, he has abandoned his post for a less stable but more mobile van, which he lives in and uses to travel around Te Wai Pounamu and Dunedin.

We’re all cold, this time of year, but only a few of us are comfortable with this fact. The work of John Ward Knox pulls a strange sense of cosiness out from the barren. He presents life like a small fireplace in an empty room, you can’t help but gather around it.

Ward Knox was born in Auckland, 1984. His work is conceptual and covers a broad selection of media such as installation, video, drawing and sculpture. He studied at Elam School of Fine Arts and graduated with an MFA in 2008. Since graduating, Ward has received the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, had work exhibited at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Chartwell Collection, Govett-Brewster Gallery and James Wallace Arts Trust. He has since left the studio life behind in search of the ‘sustenance of chance that so infrequently visits a closed room.’

John Ward Knox’s images observe the way objects interact with spaces. He doesn’t force anything, he just watches with a friendly lens and a warm sense of humour, telling the stories of moments, spaces, and objects that would otherwise go unheard.

His travels are fleeting and spontaneous, he says: ‘if I or some other were to try to follow a map of mine literally, they’d soon find themselves standing at some unrecognised spot, looking about themselves for a sign or symbol of direction which probably doesn’t exist. Here they’d be impelled either to ask a kindness of a stranger or to make their own judgement and follow their nose, which is just perfect.’

Ward Knox places a lot of trust in chance, in the unknown, in other people, and in the world. This trust in chance is a key part of his current process, a process which leads him to find and capture scenarios such as a soy sauce bottle shaped like a fish caught in a cobweb, or a basket fungus tucked beneath the undergrowth.

These images gently remind us of the way human-made objects, like the plastic fish, fall into the environment and will most likely remain there forever. Ward Knox’s candid presentation of this fact reminds us of how normalised this has become. When we see his image of autumn leaves in a crushed cigarette carton we think ‘hah, I’ve seen that before,’ and Ward Knox is subtly reminding us that this is an issue.

John Ward Knox has the knack of telling the story of something we’d otherwise ignore, assigning value to places few of us would venture to, letting us know there’s warmth and joy and value to be found in the coldest, loneliest experiences and places.

Written by Joel Thomas for the Dunedin Art Ache by Candlelight, 21st June 2018.

Artist: John Ward Knox

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With thanks to Ivan Anthony.