18 February – 28 June
Drawing Room, Morning Room and entrance foyer
Featuring:
Yvonne Abercrombie, Georgia Arnold, Rea Burton, Rhea Maheshwari, Aleksandra Petrovic, Danae Ripley
Conditioner is a view of contemporary practice by six emergent female artists, working in painting, drawing and installation. These artists explore what is intrinsically personal, pertinent concerns or notions of oneself. Their paintings are dualistic, with a view inward to oneself and out to the world beyond. Such relationships are realised in studio practice – the act of painting is essentially solitary while formed by experience and the social sphere.
The paintings in Conditioner act as a provocation, eliciting further enquiry from the viewer. These works may show possibilities of imagination during the instability of our current time. Or, they can also allude to our present-day condition as critique. Common in the exhibition is the figure in the medium of painting. The figurative motif is an identifier encompassing broader concerns. It is also a harkening to the art-historical, specifically the long history of painting.
This group show leads on from Jacqueline Fahey’s exhibition Suburbanites (curated by The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata), the immediate prior exhibition at the Wallace Arts Centre. A thread is drawn attributing Fahey’s influence. The call of the painted figure in her work elicits an intimate response by these artists.
This exhibition is curated by Nicholas Butler and Michael Prosee, with co-curator Reece King.
A catalogue is available at the Pah.
Rea Burton, Self portrait 25 Blushing, 2019, oil, flashe and glitter on canvas, artist frame (steel, wire, enamel).
Danae Ripley, Study for a Waiting Room, 2019, oil on canvas, 1180 x 930mm