Damien Kurth Exhibitions

The Arrow

11 Jul - 4 Aug 2020

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Artists

Exhibition Works

Nature Culture and Scones
Simon Clark Nature Culture and Scones (2020)
Nature Culture and Toast
Simon Clark Nature Culture and Toast (2020)
Nature Culture and Bottling
Simon Clark Nature Culture and Bottling (2020)
Let's Go to the Beach
Simon Clark Let's Go to the Beach (2020)
Truss
Damien Kurth Truss (2020)
Ware
Damien Kurth Ware (2020)
Assemblage
Damien Kurth Assemblage (2020)
Batch
Damien Kurth Batch (2020)
Furnishing the Land No. 2
Craig McIntosh Furnishing the Land No. 2 (2020)
Furnishing the Land No. 1
Craig McIntosh Furnishing the Land No. 1 (2020)
Furnishing the Land No. 3
Craig McIntosh Furnishing the Land No. 3 (2020)
Tiki 20/4
Neil Adcock Tiki 20/4 (2020)
Tiki 20/5
Neil Adcock Tiki 20/5 (2020)
Tiki 20/1
Neil Adcock Tiki 20/1 (2020)
Tiki 20/3
Neil Adcock Tiki 20/3 (2020)
Tiki 20/2
Neil Adcock Tiki 20/2 (2020)
Waltham Bridge
Rebecca Harris Waltham Bridge (2020)
Dry Creek
Rebecca Harris Dry Creek (2020)
Rapaki Undergrowth
Rebecca Harris Rapaki Undergrowth (2020)
Bottle Lake Forest
Rebecca Harris Bottle Lake Forest (2020)
Vernon Track
Rebecca Harris Vernon Track (2020)
Ashley Gorge Track
Rebecca Harris Ashley Gorge Track (2020)
Maungataketake Mountain, Ihumātao
Michael Shepherd Maungataketake Mountain, Ihumātao (1985)
Large Dark Collar and Tie
Michael Shepherd Large Dark Collar and Tie (1979)
Military Moments
Michael Shepherd Military Moments (1980)
Still Life with Toy Parachute
Michael Shepherd Still Life with Toy Parachute (1980)
The Promised Land
Michael Shepherd The Promised Land (2016)
Measure
Michael Shepherd Measure (2016)
Yobitsugi Style Vase [23648]
Aaron Scythe Yobitsugi Style Vase [23648] (2020)
Yobitsugi Style Vase [23649]
Aaron Scythe Yobitsugi Style Vase [23649] (2020)
Yobitsugi Style Large Bowl Dish
Aaron Scythe Yobitsugi Style Large Bowl Dish (2020)
Yobitsugi Style Sake Bottle Set
Aaron Scythe Yobitsugi Style Sake Bottle Set (2020)
Yobitsugi Style Plate
Aaron Scythe Yobitsugi Style Plate (2020)
Tricoloured Plate [23654]
Aaron Scythe Tricoloured Plate [23654] (2020)

Exhibition Text

Meticulously observed, with a dense paint surface of sap green and umber, Michael Shepherd’s plein air painting of Maungataketake Mountain, Ihumatao (1985) is a work of profound importance. Recording the quarrying process of the mountain’s destruction and delivered with a sense of veracity and naturalism, Shepherd recognises that history is embedded in the ground. He builds a timeless metaphor of New Zealand life: what we should value and what we did not. Ihumatao, the site of the Otuataua stonefields, large pa, wahi tapu and the oldest Maori settlement in Auckland, was confiscated by the New Zealand Government in 1863 as punishment for support of the Kingitanga movement. It remains a very contested site as well as one of considerable historic, cultural and anthropological significance.

Openly acknowledged by other artists for his rare technical virtuosity, Shepherd is a master of chiaroscuro (see Dark Collar and Tie, 1979).  He can reinvent the still-life convention with meticulously observed contrived compositions (see Military Moments, 1980) and demonstrates in Promised Land and Measure (2016) groundbreaking sculptural and painterly use of organic materials. These among many attributes (evidenced in the Waikato Museum survey exhibition and Elizabeth Rankin’s accompanying book) (1) mark him apart as an artist of real distinction and restless invention.

Neil Adcock’s extended Tiki Series moves to an increased scale where the disposition of the body builds distinct sensations, suggestions and shadows while the colour and tonal alterations of the pounamu deliver numerous landscape allusions alongside mysterious occlusions.

Damien Kurth’s Assemblage (2020) and Truss (2020) are not what they at first seem. Delivering face-on, still life conglomerations of the used and mundane, Kurth builds visual songs and tonal rhythms which rejoice in the here and now.

Simon Clark in contrasting kiwiana objects, the concept of nature and the politics of myth, continues his examination of the parallel formation of national identity by creating “realistic settings invaded by something strange...” (2) This interplay between identity presumed and one assumed is revealed in the visual tropes and puns, such as the material contradictions of 24 karat gold and the Edmonds tin. At once beautiful and dissolving into parable, Clark’s courage is matched by his certainty of delivery.

Rebecca Harris turns the light down and stands still, embracing the waning atmospheres of dusk or early evening as key devices. In the compelling Waltham Bridge (2020) we begin a journey commanded by the lingering lights on the Heathcote River before grasping the broader environment. Enclosed, surrounded and witnessing Harris develops vivid sensations of place.

Craig McIntosh, with a jeweler’s eye and a sense of restraint, builds objects that seem sourced from and to echo the natural world but with parts that could only be made by man. Suggesting function while establishing form, McIntosh in his characteristic manner revels in visual paradox.

Aaron Scythe intervenes by recomposing and disrupting. Drawing on the traditions of Japanese ceramics and pattern Scythe delivers vases, bottles, bowls and plates which reveal and celebrate the making process.
 
1. Elizabeth Rankin, Michael Shepherd: Reinventing History Painting, Waikato Museum 2018.
2. Matthew C Stretcher, Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki, Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol 25, No 2, 1999, pp. 263-298.