Simon Edwards Exhibitions

Aurora

17 Dec 2016 - 21 Feb 2017

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Artists

Exhibition Works

Mind Slab
Nigel Brown Mind Slab (2015)
Thinking of Us and All Microorganisms
Nigel Brown Thinking of Us and All Microorganisms (2016)
A Bit of a Laugh
Nigel Brown A Bit of a Laugh (2015)
A Discussion Paper Written on Western Art
Nigel Brown A Discussion Paper Written on Western Art (2011)
The Meeting Place
Chris Charteris The Meeting Place (2016)
Mauri Ora
Chris Charteris Mauri Ora (2016)
Rangimārie
Chris Charteris Rangimārie (2016)
Ngā Tuaitara o Taikehu (Black & White)
Te Rongo Kirkwood Ngā Tuaitara o Taikehu (Black & White) (2014)
William Hodges (In Pursuit of Venus)
Lisa Reihana William Hodges (In Pursuit of Venus) (2016)
Nootka Warrior (In Pursuit of Venus)
Lisa Reihana Nootka Warrior (In Pursuit of Venus) (2016)
Diva
Lisa Reihana Diva (2007)
Urban Warrior
Lisa Reihana Urban Warrior (2007)
Uncanny People of Abanimal
Andy Leleisi'uao Uncanny People of Abanimal (2016)
Unearthly People of Arctaur
Andy Leleisi'uao Unearthly People of Arctaur (2016)
Uberrime People of Asefeka
Andy Leleisi'uao Uberrime People of Asefeka (2016)
Urbanis People of Polyneitus
Andy Leleisi'uao Urbanis People of Polyneitus (2016)
Phar Lap and the Princess
Chris Heaphy Phar Lap and the Princess (2016)
Shadow Play - People of the Land
Chris Heaphy Shadow Play - People of the Land (2014)
Rummo Waits
Chris Heaphy Rummo Waits (2016)
Aio ki te Aorangi
Reuben Paterson Aio ki te Aorangi (2016)
Cloud Forest
Anya Sinclair Cloud Forest (2016)
Volcano Island
Anya Sinclair Volcano Island (2016)
The Ark
Paul Dibble The Ark (2006/08)
Parallel Worlds
Paul Dibble Parallel Worlds (2013)
Kohitere
Karl Maughan Kohitere (2016)
Colpman Avenue
Karl Maughan Colpman Avenue (2016)
Millers Road
Karl Maughan Millers Road (2016)
On with the Show
Jenna Packer On with the Show (2016)
Ata Pō
Israel Tangaroa Birch Ata Pō (2015)
Tohu
Israel Tangaroa Birch Tohu (2012)
Content
Israel Tangaroa Birch Content (2012)
Invocation
Yuki Kihara Invocation (2016)
Maui Descending a Staircase I (after Duchamp)
Yuki Kihara Maui Descending a Staircase I (after Duchamp) (2015)
Legacy
Yuki Kihara Legacy (2016)
Blessed Malia
Yuki Kihara Blessed Malia (2016)
Malia and Her Angels
Yuki Kihara Malia and Her Angels (2016)
Parable
Michael Shepherd Parable (2016)
Ark
Michael Shepherd Ark (2016)
The Great Piece of Turf (AD)
Michael Shepherd The Great Piece of Turf (AD) (2016)
Ishtar
Michael Shepherd Ishtar (2016)
Towards Port William
Michael Hight Towards Port William (2016)
Paterson Inlet
Michael Hight Paterson Inlet (2016)
Ohinemuri
Michael Hight Ohinemuri (2012)
Ripia
Michael Hight Ripia (2013)
What's at Stake
Graham Bennett What's at Stake (2015)
Darkness
Lonnie Hutchinson Darkness (2016)
X 1
Neil Dawson X 1 (2016)
Vortex 5
Neil Dawson Vortex 5 (2012)
Tough Guy Huh?
Hannah Kidd Tough Guy Huh? (2016)
Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus Gambensis)
Hannah Kidd Spur-winged Goose (Plectropterus Gambensis) (2015)
Tryasyoulike
Hannah Kidd Tryasyoulike (2013)
Fox Fur
Hannah Beehre Fox Fur (2016)
Eagle (Crest)
Hannah Beehre Eagle (Crest) (2016)
Seagull
Hannah Beehre Seagull (2016)
Rubicon Valley
Simon Edwards Rubicon Valley (2016)
Blue Lakes
Simon Edwards Blue Lakes (2016)
Calypso
Mervyn Williams Calypso (2013)
Whiplash Red
Mervyn Williams Whiplash Red (2013)

Exhibition Text

Aurora surveys the exhibition programme of 2016 and looks forward to 2017.

Yuki Kihara’s new video work Invocation features her biblical character of Salome performing a hand dance of ritualistic and symbolic gestures. Maui Descending a Staircase I (After Duchamp) – from A study of a Samoan Savage series being featured at the Honolulu Biennale, March 2107 – is a remarkably innovative allegory which explicitly references the history of motion photography while telling the story of Maui, the Samoan demi-god.

Chris Heaphy’s unique pictorial dialect establishes visual paradoxes (Phar Lap and the Princess) in cultural landscapes, where history, time and event become conflated. He uses symbol and meaning in deliberately plural ways (Rummo Waits) that pose questions while serving to enhance the ambiguities present and constantly suggested.

Both William Hodges and Nootka Warrior by Lisa Reihana are from the Venice Biennale video (In Pursuit of Venus) being featured at that prestigious event in 2017. She collapses time, building considerable universal metaphors. In earlier, critically acclaimed signature works, Diva and Urban Warrior, Reihana re-interprets, re-contextualising myth, cultural and gender identities.

Andy Leleisi’uao’s distinctive paintings commence as pictograms and riddles, where partial stories emerge inside narratives that imply rather than state, where hieroglyphs and allusions to work, games, leisure, life and death, heaven and hell become parables eliciting the viewer’s active contribution.

Israel Birch’s steel and lacquer paintings absorb light and refract it. He uses grinding and carving techniques below the surface and in that manner establishes different visual layers that alter and become revealed in quite magical ways.

Michael Hight demonstrates mastery of two quite different modes of expression in his practice. His surreal, black silhouetted paintings appear markedly simpler at first than his beehive works but that is a misreading – in significant works such as Paterson Inlet and Towards Port William objects become metaphoric symbols infused with the tensions of contrast and contradiction, cultural dynamics of (implied or previous) use and the lore of place.

A Discussion Paper on Western Art by Nigel Brown is a major work that critiques the common assumptions and arrogances found in most art discourses. Brown’s incisive wit, broad cultural dialogues, relentless questioning of societal behaviours and the politics of our time are key fundamentals of paintings with considerable didactic purpose.

Hannah Beehre takes us out into space; Michael Shepherd to Otago and the agrarian revolution; Reuben Paterson visits the Dutch still-life tradition and in that process demonstrates astonishing technical mastery and beauty; Mervyn Williams in Whiplash Red returns to the concerns of optical art, what we see and how we see it.

There have been some remarkable sculptural exhibitions and astonishing works produced in recent times: the visual and spatial contradictions of Neil Dawson’s X 1 and the illusions and transformations of Vortex 5 for example. Chris Charteris’ sympathy for stone and pattern making is wonderfully demonstrated in Mauri Ora and The Meeting Place. Paul Dibble’s The Ark and Parallel Worlds are monumental in scale and achievement. Graham Bennett’s What’s at Stake is a treatise on environmental degradation and a world in crisis.

There are important works by Lonnie Hutchinson, Jenna Packer, Te Rongo Kirkwood and Simon Edwards with Anya Sinclair’s new atmospheric landscapes representing her debut at Milford Galleries.

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