Volker Hawighorst
Best Before. Revising the useless. 14th December 2018 - 3rd February 2019
Throughout his professional career, art and design has been the main focus of Volker's work. As a trained cabinet maker, he has a strong foundation of solid craftsmanship and a keen eye for detail. Art was always a presence in his daily life. He created his first large sculpture in the early 90's for Lufthansa German Airlines at the new Munich Airport. For several decades he worked as an architect in international environments, responsible for design and delivery of large corporate projects as well as tailored solutions for smaller ventures. After moving from Germany to New Zealand, Voker started exploring new media to express his creativity. The aesthetics of recycled materials became more and more significant and, he is intrigued by being able to give something that is considered useless a new sense of usefulness.
Martin Law - Painter of Paradise
This highly significant and stunning collection of pieces by Martin Law, Painter of Paradise are specially created paintings of Whanganui and Raetihi, and marks the beginning of a major project spanning the next two decades, to create 1500 paintings of New Zealand architecture in its landscape.
“For me New Zealand is changing, we are losing our valuable architectural heritage at an alarming pace, time is against us, I have to capture and paint as much as possible before it is lost.” Martin finds great inspiration and hope in the buildings that we might forget, that we overlook in our haste of life, rustic lost corners and urban back streets, recalling shades of his rural upbringing; painting layers of glorious New Zealand greens amid searing skies.
Born in 1967 in England and growing up on a farm in the heart of the Cotswolds, Martin moved to New Zealand ten years ago and now brings this extraordinary collection of intricately detailed paintings to the WHMilbank Gallery. Martin studied in London at the Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, graduating in 1990. He then went on to develop a highly successful commercial career based in London, working as a concept designer and architectural and interior perspective artist. Drawing and painting has always been his life. He has worked on many prominent interiors including hotel, maritime interiors and palaces in the Middle East.
In this exhibition, Martin presents 35 original paintings of buildings from the Whanganui and Raetihi regions that in their collectiveness represent history and the glory of New Zealand architecture. These remarkable paintings reflect Martin’s great love of New Zealand, the land, and our unique architecture vernacular. His paintings capture and represent the connection we have with this land, our rural narrative, lost eras, abandonment, hope and love.
“For me New Zealand is changing, we are losing our valuable architectural heritage at an alarming pace, time is against us, I have to capture and paint as much as possible before it is lost.” Martin finds great inspiration and hope in the buildings that we might forget, that we overlook in our haste of life, rustic lost corners and urban back streets, recalling shades of his rural upbringing; painting layers of glorious New Zealand greens amid searing skies.
Born in 1967 in England and growing up on a farm in the heart of the Cotswolds, Martin moved to New Zealand ten years ago and now brings this extraordinary collection of intricately detailed paintings to the WHMilbank Gallery. Martin studied in London at the Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, graduating in 1990. He then went on to develop a highly successful commercial career based in London, working as a concept designer and architectural and interior perspective artist. Drawing and painting has always been his life. He has worked on many prominent interiors including hotel, maritime interiors and palaces in the Middle East.
In this exhibition, Martin presents 35 original paintings of buildings from the Whanganui and Raetihi regions that in their collectiveness represent history and the glory of New Zealand architecture. These remarkable paintings reflect Martin’s great love of New Zealand, the land, and our unique architecture vernacular. His paintings capture and represent the connection we have with this land, our rural narrative, lost eras, abandonment, hope and love.
Scott McFarlane - Recent Paintings 14th July - 2nd August
Scott McFarlane was born in Wellington in 1966 and lives in Northland. He completed a Diploma of Fine Arts, (Honours) Otago School of Art in 1993. He has exhibited regularly in New Zealand in private and public galleries and has works in numerous private and public collections.
Hamish Horsley - Earthwise
Sculpture and paintings
May 6th - July 9th 2017
Hamish Horsley’s work embraces the spirit and energy of nature, reflecting the harmony and change in landscape and culture. The rhythms, layers and forms that spring from the natural world are the underlying essence for his work as sculptor, painter and photographer.
His strong environmental and philosophical beliefs lie beneath his articulate creative vision. The accessibility of his work is one of its defining features.
“My work is a meditation on the continual process of change, the blending of earth, sea and sky, the patterns and symbols that are always in our line of sight. Growing up in New Zealand has led to an enduring fascination for the shaping, scraping, uplifting of our world – the flow of water, the evolution and formation of stone, soil and sand - the continuing metamorphosis of our earth”
Born and raised in Whanganui, Hamish was based in London for over 30 years working as a professional artist and teacher, building an impressive reputation with many significant and often monumental public art commissions and private projects. His work is found throughout the UK, Northern Europe, the Middle East and more recently India, Vietnam and Thailand (where he lives for part of the year).
Now based in Whanganui, this exhibition showcases new works in stone along with drawings and paintings on paper.
Prices on application
Sculpture and paintings
May 6th - July 9th 2017
Hamish Horsley’s work embraces the spirit and energy of nature, reflecting the harmony and change in landscape and culture. The rhythms, layers and forms that spring from the natural world are the underlying essence for his work as sculptor, painter and photographer.
His strong environmental and philosophical beliefs lie beneath his articulate creative vision. The accessibility of his work is one of its defining features.
“My work is a meditation on the continual process of change, the blending of earth, sea and sky, the patterns and symbols that are always in our line of sight. Growing up in New Zealand has led to an enduring fascination for the shaping, scraping, uplifting of our world – the flow of water, the evolution and formation of stone, soil and sand - the continuing metamorphosis of our earth”
Born and raised in Whanganui, Hamish was based in London for over 30 years working as a professional artist and teacher, building an impressive reputation with many significant and often monumental public art commissions and private projects. His work is found throughout the UK, Northern Europe, the Middle East and more recently India, Vietnam and Thailand (where he lives for part of the year).
Now based in Whanganui, this exhibition showcases new works in stone along with drawings and paintings on paper.
Prices on application
Kendal Heyes 'Slow Drawing'
Selected from The Shape of Time, 2010 & The Sea of Possibility, 2016/17
17th April - 4th May, 2017
Kendal Heyes was born in New Zealand, and grew up in Auckland. In 1979 he moved to Sydney and has lived there since then.
His work covers a range of mediums including drawing, painting, printmaking and photography. He began exhibiting regularly in Australia in 1981, and in New Zealand in 1987, after returning to take up the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in that year. Since then he has held residencies at Nelson Polytechnic, Sydney Grammar School and Isis Gallery in Cumbria in the UK.
In 2007 he gained an Australian Post-Graduate Award to complete a practice-based PhD in drawing (2007–2010). In 2010 he won the Post-Graduate Tim Olsen Prize for Excellence in Drawing at the University of NSW College of Fine Arts. In 2017 he won the prestigious Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, PLC, Sydney.
His work has been included in many surveys of New Zealand art such as A Very Peculiar Practice: Recent Currents in New Zealand Painting (City Gallery, Wellington), the national touring exhibition Fear and Beauty, Bright Paradise: The 1st Auckland Triennial (Auckland Art Gallery), and mostly recently, Undreamed of … 50 Years of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, at the Hocken Collections and Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
In Australia, his work has been included in Australian Art Now (Art Gallery of South Australia), Australian Printmaking: from Pre-settlement to Present (National Gallery of Australia), Australian Photography: the 'Eighties, (NGA), Perspecta, (Art Gallery of NSW), and The Constructed Image (National Gallery of Australia),
He is represented in many public collections in New Zealand, including Victoria and Massey Universities, the Hocken Collection, University of Otago, the National Bank, Voyager NZ Maritime Museum, Fletcher-Challenge, and the Wallace Arts Trust collection.
In Australia he is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Grammar School, and the Adelaide Perry PLC Sydney Collection
In recent years Kendal has exhibited almost exclusively in Australia. However, his recent participation in the exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and an unplanned visit to Whanganui last year have drawn him back to New Zealand, and this show in Whanganui marks the beginning of an ongoing re-engagement with New Zealand.
Selected from The Shape of Time, 2010 & The Sea of Possibility, 2016/17
17th April - 4th May, 2017
Kendal Heyes was born in New Zealand, and grew up in Auckland. In 1979 he moved to Sydney and has lived there since then.
His work covers a range of mediums including drawing, painting, printmaking and photography. He began exhibiting regularly in Australia in 1981, and in New Zealand in 1987, after returning to take up the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in that year. Since then he has held residencies at Nelson Polytechnic, Sydney Grammar School and Isis Gallery in Cumbria in the UK.
In 2007 he gained an Australian Post-Graduate Award to complete a practice-based PhD in drawing (2007–2010). In 2010 he won the Post-Graduate Tim Olsen Prize for Excellence in Drawing at the University of NSW College of Fine Arts. In 2017 he won the prestigious Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, PLC, Sydney.
His work has been included in many surveys of New Zealand art such as A Very Peculiar Practice: Recent Currents in New Zealand Painting (City Gallery, Wellington), the national touring exhibition Fear and Beauty, Bright Paradise: The 1st Auckland Triennial (Auckland Art Gallery), and mostly recently, Undreamed of … 50 Years of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, at the Hocken Collections and Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
In Australia, his work has been included in Australian Art Now (Art Gallery of South Australia), Australian Printmaking: from Pre-settlement to Present (National Gallery of Australia), Australian Photography: the 'Eighties, (NGA), Perspecta, (Art Gallery of NSW), and The Constructed Image (National Gallery of Australia),
He is represented in many public collections in New Zealand, including Victoria and Massey Universities, the Hocken Collection, University of Otago, the National Bank, Voyager NZ Maritime Museum, Fletcher-Challenge, and the Wallace Arts Trust collection.
In Australia he is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Grammar School, and the Adelaide Perry PLC Sydney Collection
In recent years Kendal has exhibited almost exclusively in Australia. However, his recent participation in the exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and an unplanned visit to Whanganui last year have drawn him back to New Zealand, and this show in Whanganui marks the beginning of an ongoing re-engagement with New Zealand.
Simon Ogden 'Improbable Landscapes'
3rd February - 10th April, 2017
Simon Ogden was born at Bradford, England 1956. For three decades he has been passionately involved in the teaching of Fine Arts (including Painting, Drawing, Printmaking and Sculpture) at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch.
His studio practice is based in Christchurch but he spends a few months a year in Europe exploring ancient iconographies and contemporary cityscapes.
He is especially interested in the interface between crafts and fine arts, the collection of objects their forms and their re-contextualisation.
His studio practice is based in Christchurch but he spends a few months a year in Europe exploring ancient iconographies and contemporary cityscapes.
He is especially interested in the interface between crafts and fine arts, the collection of objects their forms and their re-contextualisation.
Designed Scarfs by Simon Ogden
Made in Lake Como and Bologna, Italy.
10% cashmere & 90% micro-modal, washed, finished, pressed by hand.
1480mm x 1480mm cut,
$280.00 each [18 designs]
www.wearetouchedbyfire.com
Made in Lake Como and Bologna, Italy.
10% cashmere & 90% micro-modal, washed, finished, pressed by hand.
1480mm x 1480mm cut,
$280.00 each [18 designs]
www.wearetouchedbyfire.com
Richard Wotton - Selected Images
&
Various Artists - Raetihi Ratana Church
3rd January - 2nd February 2017
Richard Wotton was born in 1946 in Whanganui, where he still lives. A printer by training, his interest in photography began in 1967.
He produced a significant body of work during the 1970s and 1980s, when he worked almost entirely in black and white with medium and large format cameras.
Since embracing digital technology, he continued to take the same formal approach to his to his photography, applying the discipline of the view camera to a significant series of vernacular architecture.
His work is held in a number of private collections around New Zealand and also public collections of the Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetu; Te Manawa, Palmerston North; the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tangarewa, Wellington; and Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui, which is a large holding.
Wotton is represented by the WHMilbank Gallery, Whanganui, which in 2012 exhibited Hidden in Plain Sight, a selection of 40 vernacular architecture images made since 2009.
He has also had solo exhibitions at Te Manawa, Palmerston North; MTG, Napier; and Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui; as well as being included in shows at the Sarjeant Gallery, Te Manawa and Te Papa.
Wotton has self-published two books, Glimpses of Vietnam (2010) and Hidden in Plain Sight (2012). Both are available through www.blurb.com.
Concurrent with this show, the Sargeant Gallery is exhibiting Marking Time: Portraits of the Inked, a selection of 45 black and white portraits of tattooed people.
He produced a significant body of work during the 1970s and 1980s, when he worked almost entirely in black and white with medium and large format cameras.
Since embracing digital technology, he continued to take the same formal approach to his to his photography, applying the discipline of the view camera to a significant series of vernacular architecture.
His work is held in a number of private collections around New Zealand and also public collections of the Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetu; Te Manawa, Palmerston North; the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tangarewa, Wellington; and Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui, which is a large holding.
Wotton is represented by the WHMilbank Gallery, Whanganui, which in 2012 exhibited Hidden in Plain Sight, a selection of 40 vernacular architecture images made since 2009.
He has also had solo exhibitions at Te Manawa, Palmerston North; MTG, Napier; and Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui; as well as being included in shows at the Sarjeant Gallery, Te Manawa and Te Papa.
Wotton has self-published two books, Glimpses of Vietnam (2010) and Hidden in Plain Sight (2012). Both are available through www.blurb.com.
Concurrent with this show, the Sargeant Gallery is exhibiting Marking Time: Portraits of the Inked, a selection of 45 black and white portraits of tattooed people.
Richard WOTTON 'Selected Works' - installation image
Raetihi Ratana Church
Laurence ABERHART "Ratana Church [1} and [2}, Raetihi"
sivler gelatin, selenium toned 1982/2010/1
each $4,600.00 framed
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Roger DONALDSON " Ratana Curch on the hill, Raetihi" 1994 370mm x 420mm each $1,600.00 unframed
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Tia Ranginui - Hours Between Sleep
10th to 24th December 2016
A series of limited edition photographs 500mmH x 750mmW $300.00 each print (six prints per image)
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James Robinson - The promised land Pokokohua
April to 30th June 2016
This exhibition of recent work by James Robinson - mainly paper constructed works - has been up a few weeks and receiving a good level of interest.
Speaking about the work 'flag' James ROBINSON created with Scot FLANAGAN 2015
“Scot lived opposite an old McCahon residence in Woolston, Christchurch – and the flag – it’s about corporate fascism and identity manufacture for total profit and slavery of planet and people…. I ripped up lots of old graphite drawings from ten years ago ….from a show called giants saints monsters ….and Scot wove the insert….Scot’s been working with flags for years ….notably having woven the terrorist suppression act text….JK Baxter poems and pornography …. into flag like art works.” JR
Speaking about the work 'flag' James ROBINSON created with Scot FLANAGAN 2015
“Scot lived opposite an old McCahon residence in Woolston, Christchurch – and the flag – it’s about corporate fascism and identity manufacture for total profit and slavery of planet and people…. I ripped up lots of old graphite drawings from ten years ago ….from a show called giants saints monsters ….and Scot wove the insert….Scot’s been working with flags for years ….notably having woven the terrorist suppression act text….JK Baxter poems and pornography …. into flag like art works.” JR
James ROBINSON
Untitled 2015/16
mixed media on 7 paper panels 1000 mm x 3,500 mm
$10,000 or near offer
Special note: The artist is keen to sell this set as one work but should that not happen by 30th June then individual panels con be sold at $2,000 per panel. your interest in reserving one or more panels can take place prior to 30th June. Each panel is 1000 mm x 500 mm
Untitled 2015/16
mixed media on 7 paper panels 1000 mm x 3,500 mm
$10,000 or near offer
Special note: The artist is keen to sell this set as one work but should that not happen by 30th June then individual panels con be sold at $2,000 per panel. your interest in reserving one or more panels can take place prior to 30th June. Each panel is 1000 mm x 500 mm
James ROBINSON
Untitled Framed drawings
mixed media on paper 280 mm x 230 mm size of frame.
$300 each
Untitled Framed drawings
mixed media on paper 280 mm x 230 mm size of frame.
$300 each
PhilipTRUSTTUM - ARMED TO THE TEETH
26th September 2015 - 30th April 2016
A significant selection of Trusttum’s 2014 paintings was assembled by Philip and the New Ashburton Art Gallery. They were shown mid 2015 under the title ‘Current Affairs’. I wrote an essay that accompanied their catalogue – one that walked viewers from Trusttum’s Rugby work through his turmoil in Christchurch through the quakes, the time spent drawing and then an assessment of this remarkable outburst of work made in 2014.
.In my back gallery under the banner ARMED TO THE TEETH I have gathered a selection of Trusttum fighter figures collaged to appropriated coloured canvas – the figures assembled from the positives and negatives of camouflaged guns uniforms and African masks –much mixing and matching creating dramatic postures and glares.
.In my back gallery under the banner ARMED TO THE TEETH I have gathered a selection of Trusttum fighter figures collaged to appropriated coloured canvas – the figures assembled from the positives and negatives of camouflaged guns uniforms and African masks –much mixing and matching creating dramatic postures and glares.
New @ WHM
Janet Grubner, Garry Freemantle, Scott McFarlane, James Robinson, Catherine MacDonald, Gary Currin, David Murray
22nd December 2015 - 22nd February 2016
Janet Grubner
Garry Freemantle
Scott McFarlane
James Robinson
Catherine MacDonald
Gary Currin
David Murray
Rachael Garland - I'll Come Following You
20th November - 13th December 2015
"Mysterious people, creatures and patterns emerge from the shadows in the latest exhibition from Whanganui artist Rachael Garland.
At first glance the works - paint on wood panels - appear to be layers of dark paint and muted patterns. However, a closer look reveals painted faces and creatures swimming in and out of view. The works were made by layering paint, sanding it back and layering more paint. She used wood stain, sandpaper, paint stripper, wallpaper and house paint to create the works.
"It was more like a building project than a piece of art," Ms Garland said.
Anne-Marie McDonald, Wanganui Chronicle Satuday 5th December 2015
At first glance the works - paint on wood panels - appear to be layers of dark paint and muted patterns. However, a closer look reveals painted faces and creatures swimming in and out of view. The works were made by layering paint, sanding it back and layering more paint. She used wood stain, sandpaper, paint stripper, wallpaper and house paint to create the works.
"It was more like a building project than a piece of art," Ms Garland said.
Anne-Marie McDonald, Wanganui Chronicle Satuday 5th December 2015
The Winter of Listening $5000 as one work
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The ideas behind the exhibition are equally layered. The works are Ms Garland's submission for her Masters of Maori Visual Art at Te Putahi-a-toi, Massey University. As a Pakeha doing a Maori-focused course, Ms Garland found herself challenged in ways she hadn't expected. "Being the only Pakeha [on the course] it was way out of my comfort zone. I was confronted with my own ignorance; it meant I had to do more research. "And it meant that I wasn't confident in my work for the first time in a long time." During her two years of study Ms Garland had to delve into her own family history and New Zealand history. "I was trying to find connections, trying to find where I belong." There are references to European architecture, visual culture, mythology, Victorian mourning rituals and family stories. The works are displayed like Maori tukutuku panels. "The more I delved into my family history, the more I found ancestors stepping out of the shadows. That's what I was trying to show visually with these works," she said. Ms Garland studied for a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Whanganui UCOL and spent 10 years as a working artist before enrolling in a Masters. Anne-Marie McDonald, Wanganui Chronicle Satuday 5th December 2015 |
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Philip Trusttum & Ross Mitchel-Anyon - Blink of an Eye
6th September – 15th November 2015
Philip Trusttum
2014 was a watershed year for Philip Trusttum. Trusttum’s life and painting routine was shattered by the two devastating earthquakes. The first in September 2011 caused considerable damage to their family home but repairs were completed by year’s end, only to have the home written off by the February 2012 quake that devastated Christchurch. Trusttum’s studio survived but that was quickly converted into their ‘new’ home.
To keep his artmaking and himself alive he began filling blank trade aid books with drawings fed first by delving into the strange world invented by Hieronymus Bosch and then enriched by Trusttum’s imagination and deft hand. By late 2013 the need to change scale had become obvious and a breakthrough with bureaucracy saw at the end of 2013 a new studio and painting store begin to take shape on the front of their section. By March Trusttum was back painting – first looking close to home at the workmen attending to the fractured roads and services in the streets nearby but soon the impact of the devastating atrocities taking place world-wide and in particular in the middle east.
He first created figures as fighting machines distanced by camouflaging and masking the perpetrators and then in the midst TV’s obsessive coverage of the ISUS be-headings he confronted that head-on making three remarkable works of the moments the cameras denied us. In the repose of death the fear transposes to the perpetrator of death – responsibility now rests on his shoulders.
In the Front Gallery I gathered the ISUS paintings by Philip Trusstum with a title IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE. I guess it comes as a stark reminder that abrupt change is how our existence so often does play out. And it was with our collective shock of recent local moment that so drastically impacted Ross Mitchell-Anyon and his family that lead me to feel just how relevant and significance each moment is, and the enormity of change just one can bring. It can impact many like in Christchurch, it can horrify the world when a life is brutally taken before our eyes, yet a town can be wiped out without the world hardly knowing.
I am so very grateful to Ross and Bobbie for letting me include this selection of works by Ross within the context of this exhibition. And that Ross is making his way back from the brink is both remarkable and wonderful.
To keep his artmaking and himself alive he began filling blank trade aid books with drawings fed first by delving into the strange world invented by Hieronymus Bosch and then enriched by Trusttum’s imagination and deft hand. By late 2013 the need to change scale had become obvious and a breakthrough with bureaucracy saw at the end of 2013 a new studio and painting store begin to take shape on the front of their section. By March Trusttum was back painting – first looking close to home at the workmen attending to the fractured roads and services in the streets nearby but soon the impact of the devastating atrocities taking place world-wide and in particular in the middle east.
He first created figures as fighting machines distanced by camouflaging and masking the perpetrators and then in the midst TV’s obsessive coverage of the ISUS be-headings he confronted that head-on making three remarkable works of the moments the cameras denied us. In the repose of death the fear transposes to the perpetrator of death – responsibility now rests on his shoulders.
In the Front Gallery I gathered the ISUS paintings by Philip Trusstum with a title IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE. I guess it comes as a stark reminder that abrupt change is how our existence so often does play out. And it was with our collective shock of recent local moment that so drastically impacted Ross Mitchell-Anyon and his family that lead me to feel just how relevant and significance each moment is, and the enormity of change just one can bring. It can impact many like in Christchurch, it can horrify the world when a life is brutally taken before our eyes, yet a town can be wiped out without the world hardly knowing.
I am so very grateful to Ross and Bobbie for letting me include this selection of works by Ross within the context of this exhibition. And that Ross is making his way back from the brink is both remarkable and wonderful.
Ross Mitchell-Anyon
Anna Rutherford (and friends) - 'Remembering Anna'
Opening 7th August 2015 till 23rd August 2015
Anna Rutherford died quite quickly on 7th August 2014 after a year’s struggle with cancer, retaining her vital personality and optimism to the end.
It had been the good fortune of this gallery to be the catalyst for Anna and her husband Ron to move from Ohakune to Whanganui in 2008. Anna had late in 2007 approached me to test my interest in exhibiting and selling a number of early to mid-19th century French gouache floral fabric designs that she had purchased and had framed. From the collection of French silk weaving house Bianchini Ferier these designs were by Robert Bonfils (signed) and probably Raoul Dufy. They were exquisite and I did not hesitate setting a date for showing them in April 2008.
Anna and Ron quickly became close friends with my wife Raewyne and I, and Anna’s keen interest in art, people and what was happening in the town made her a lively addition within this community and the art community in particular. Anna was keen to grow her artistic skills and made work for group exhibitions at WHMilbank Gallery and successfully entered work in the Sarjeant Gallery Annual Arts Review. She joined the Sarjeant ‘Front of House’ team and her great enthusiasm and caring interest in visitors widened art interests and the circle that delighted in her colourful presence.
Months before she died Anna and I began planning the bones of this exhibition but her sudden departure pre-empted that, so now a year later I have fleshed it out in four parts. First a small selection of the Bianchini Ferier designs that brought Anna and this Gallery together provides an introduction to a selection of her brightly coloured oil pastels and acrylics. To stand alongside of Anna I have invited some of her closer artist friends to place an appropriate work on our walls. Finally Raewyne, Ron and I have gathered a small selection of photographs that chronicle friendships, mutual passions and the vibrancy of her all too short Whanganui years.
Most of the work is for sale at realistic prices as Ron is keen for those interested to share in the experience of Anna.
It had been the good fortune of this gallery to be the catalyst for Anna and her husband Ron to move from Ohakune to Whanganui in 2008. Anna had late in 2007 approached me to test my interest in exhibiting and selling a number of early to mid-19th century French gouache floral fabric designs that she had purchased and had framed. From the collection of French silk weaving house Bianchini Ferier these designs were by Robert Bonfils (signed) and probably Raoul Dufy. They were exquisite and I did not hesitate setting a date for showing them in April 2008.
Anna and Ron quickly became close friends with my wife Raewyne and I, and Anna’s keen interest in art, people and what was happening in the town made her a lively addition within this community and the art community in particular. Anna was keen to grow her artistic skills and made work for group exhibitions at WHMilbank Gallery and successfully entered work in the Sarjeant Gallery Annual Arts Review. She joined the Sarjeant ‘Front of House’ team and her great enthusiasm and caring interest in visitors widened art interests and the circle that delighted in her colourful presence.
Months before she died Anna and I began planning the bones of this exhibition but her sudden departure pre-empted that, so now a year later I have fleshed it out in four parts. First a small selection of the Bianchini Ferier designs that brought Anna and this Gallery together provides an introduction to a selection of her brightly coloured oil pastels and acrylics. To stand alongside of Anna I have invited some of her closer artist friends to place an appropriate work on our walls. Finally Raewyne, Ron and I have gathered a small selection of photographs that chronicle friendships, mutual passions and the vibrancy of her all too short Whanganui years.
Most of the work is for sale at realistic prices as Ron is keen for those interested to share in the experience of Anna.
Guest Artists
Tia Huia Ranginui - 'The Intellectual Wealth of a SAVAGE Mind'
An exhibition of photographic works
3rd July 2015 - 2nd August 2015
A Savage Artists Statement
Often the bad joke of ethnographic ideology Maori are frequently portrayed, in popular art and contemporary imagery, either as ‘piupiu’ wearing performers, staged characters with happy go lucky expressions or ... static characters, often posed with inappropriate props, and the blank expressions of a hyper native [noble savage].
My work is an inversion of our own cultural identity in image and art. A juxtaposition of local cultural iconography with historical contemporary narrative and character portraiture. An insight into the intellectual ‘strength’ of a Savage.
Tia Huia Ranginui
Often the bad joke of ethnographic ideology Maori are frequently portrayed, in popular art and contemporary imagery, either as ‘piupiu’ wearing performers, staged characters with happy go lucky expressions or ... static characters, often posed with inappropriate props, and the blank expressions of a hyper native [noble savage].
My work is an inversion of our own cultural identity in image and art. A juxtaposition of local cultural iconography with historical contemporary narrative and character portraiture. An insight into the intellectual ‘strength’ of a Savage.
Tia Huia Ranginui
"POWER" Tia Huia RANGINUI archival digital print framed 1m x 55cm
"WEALTH" Tia Huia RANGINUI archival digital print framed 1m x 55cm
"POVERTY" Tia Huia RANGINUI archival digital print framed 1m x 55cm
"PROPERTY" Tia Huia RANGINUI archival digital print framed 1m x 55cm
"DEATH" Tia Huia RANGINUI archival digital print framed 1m x 55cm
"POISONING" Tia Huia RANGINUI Still from a cinemagraph gif video
SOLDIER BOY Photographs by Janet GRUBNER
25th April 2015 till 1st June 2015
A chapter of a story:
POETRY IN STONE
He has maintained a lonely vigil for the past 90 years, atop the obelisk,
calmly surveying the city of Whanganui and its awa.
POETRY IN STONE
He has maintained a lonely vigil for the past 90 years, atop the obelisk,
calmly surveying the city of Whanganui and its awa.
"Soldier Boy"
"Soldier Boy, lonely boy, standing there
all on your own
atop an obelisk made of stone.
Long have gone the fallen tears
with the passing of the years.
It has fallen on your head
to represent the fallen dead.
A farmer boy were you
before
death proclaimed you hero
of a war.
(From the poem) by:
Rowley Habib (Rore Hapipi) 16/4/2015
"Soldier Boy" is Janet Grubner’s first solo exhibition, shaped in response to a recent invitation to exhibit with the WHMilbank Gallery, located in close proximity to the monument dedicated to all Maori casualties of the First World War, in Pakaitore [Moutoa Gardens]. These 16 photographs are an astutely edited selection from the work made during countless return visits to the monument over the past eight years.
The statue itself, at the top of the monument's obelisk, and modelled on Herewini Wakarua, who served with A company of the first New Zealand Maori Contingent at Gallipoli, has great presence, which made him compelling for the artist, " the first time I came upon him, August 5 2007, 7.30 am, he was surrounded by an intense slate-grey fog, and within the first few seconds I knew 'I was in', and the project began".
The making of the photographs has been inspired by a respect for what the monument and statue represents, and by the stark solitude of the statue.
In this artists practise, she would probably quote the great Henri Cartier-Bresson "photographs take me not the other way round". Her photography is less to do with camera dexterity, more to do with receptivity.
"Simplicity is the hardest thing, and simplicity is perfection. 'Soldier Boy' is a wonderful encounter with poetry in stone"
Janet Grubner presently lives in Whanganui, where she is based for family reasons.
Selected works
Exhibition installation.
GAME, SET & MATCH Philip TRUSTTUM
12th July 2014 to the 31st March 2015
An exhibition from Philip Trusttum's 'Tennis Series' is now open at WHMilbank Gallery and runs in the Trusttum Room till the end of October.
THE RIVER GOBLIN "Te Awa Tupua" A Super Wairua Production
7th March 2015 to the 26th April 2015
Posters A1 $50 A2 $30 A3 $10
The Legend Begins "THE RIVER GOBLIN" an exhibition of Whanganui's leading contemporary Maori artists.
Isiaha BARLOW
Tia Huia RANGINUI
Aaron TE RANGIAO
Sonny BARLOW
Together these artists bring their voices to the Pākaitore commemorations with a current critique of the Te Awa Tupua River Settlement deal 2015 and ongoing currents...
Five Super Wairua characters struggle "Te Awa Tupua" (The River Goblin) as a malignant entity representing - greed, lust and envy.
The show includes individual character posters, a battle scene graphic and a stop motion video comentary centred around a three dimentional representation of the River Goblin.
As you enter this exhibition be sure to ask the real life hero Mahuruhuru (Bill Milbank) to share insights.
Isiaha BARLOW
Tia Huia RANGINUI
Aaron TE RANGIAO
Sonny BARLOW
Together these artists bring their voices to the Pākaitore commemorations with a current critique of the Te Awa Tupua River Settlement deal 2015 and ongoing currents...
Five Super Wairua characters struggle "Te Awa Tupua" (The River Goblin) as a malignant entity representing - greed, lust and envy.
The show includes individual character posters, a battle scene graphic and a stop motion video comentary centred around a three dimentional representation of the River Goblin.
As you enter this exhibition be sure to ask the real life hero Mahuruhuru (Bill Milbank) to share insights.
Each of the five pieces is 1200h x 600w and may be purchased for $300 - digital print with perspex frame.
Five Super Wairua characters including Te Mahuruhuru (Bill)
