Learning from Venice: A Workshop for Early-Career Artists, Curators and Writers, 25-29 May 2026, Venice Italy
John Daly-Peoples
The Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa (OCAA) has announced a new initiative “Learning from Venice”, a new professional development opportunity for seven early-career Aotearoa New Zealand artists, curators and writers to take part in an intensive five-day research workshop at the Venice Biennale, between 25 and 29 May 2026.
Timed to coincide with the 61st Biennale of Venice, “Learning from Venice” will take advantage of the of multiple exhibitions mounted across Venice, including the NZ exhibition, Taharaki Skyside by Fiona Pardington mounted at Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà (La Pietà) the site of Bill Culbert’s Front Door Out Back exhibition in 2013
This immersion in contemporary art will be led by curator, writer, editor and educator, Christina Barton, and Curator Contemporary Art at Te Papa, Hanahiva Rose.
The workshop will consist of readings, conversations, visits, and talks, and there will be opportunities to meet artists, curators and individuals involved in the Biennale’s realisation.
Participants will collaborate to produce a publication reflecting on their findings, which will be published and distributed after the workshop concludes.
This initiative will enable a cohort of committed individuals to gain a sharper understanding of how the art world works in the context of one of its highest[1]profile occasions. Participants will gain a stronger grasp of the key issues at stake in current practice, testing their reactions and impressions with peers, and learning together to catalyse future thinking about Aotearoa’s place in and contribution to the global art world.
Applications will be accepted from early-career artists, curators and writers based in or from Aotearoa New Zealand who can demonstrate their commitment to pursuing a career in the visual arts. Applications will be assessed by a panel including the co-leaders, a representative from Creative New Zealand, and artist Judy Millar.
Selected participants will be fully funded to attend (including flights, accommodation and a per diem).
Partners
The Learning from Venice workshop has been made possible through the generous support of multiple partners, including Creative New Zealand, Te Papa and the Te Papa Foundation, Elam Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Naveya & Sloane, Barbara Blake and the Gow Family Foundation. The Chartwell Trust have generously supported the Aotearoa-based elements of the project.
Cover image, George Chance – The Storm, Wanaka (c1940)
New Zealand Photography Collected
175 Years of Photography in Aotearoa
Te Papa Press
Written by Athol McCredie
RRP $90.00
Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
New Zealand Photography Collected illuminates New Zealand’s photographic history, from the earliest nineteenth-century portraits of Māori and local ‘scenic views’ to the latest contemporary art photography. The previous edition of the book published in 2015 went into two editions and this expanded version featuring 400 images from Te Papa’s collection of 400,000 works.
From the iconic to the previously unpublished, the selection includes outstanding photographs by the Burton Brothers, Leslie Adkin, Spencer Digby, John Pascoe, Brian Brake, Frank Hofmann, Ans Westra, Eric Lee-Johnson, Marti Friedlander, Laurence Aberhart, Ann Shelton, Glenn Jowitt, Anne Noble, Yvonne Todd – and many more.
The book not only provides a wide selection of images, it also introduces the reader to the photographic artists who have used photography to explore our history and environment. The photographs of the nineteenth century makes us realise that these images are often our only reference point for how the country, its people and events looked in the past.
Author and curator Athol McCredie provides a wide-ranging selection of images across portraiture, landscape, science, documentary photography and art with informative notes.
Ellis Dudgeon Lake Hawea, c.1947 Hand-coloured gelatin silver print, coloured by Elaine Watson, 1962, 404 × 500 mm Purchased 2023, O.051365 It is almost unknown for a hand-colourist to be identified on a photograph, but this one has a handwritten label on the back reading ‘Hand painted photograph by Elaine Watson, July 1962.’ This records that Watson hand-coloured it, not that she took it, for we know from a 1947 book in which it was reproduced in black and white that it was taken by Ellis Dudgeon, a photographer who ran a studio in Nelson from 1930 to 1970. Dudgeon’s scenic hand-coloured photographs were widely seen. Indeed, this image appears in colour on the cover of the upmarket magazine Mirror: New Zealand’s national home journal in 1955. In that version, the colouring is quite different: there is much more yellow in the tī kouka (cabbage trees), there are red flowers on the bushes by the lakeside, and it is much brighter and sunnier throughout. It is a more upbeat, holiday image than Watson’s subdued and uniformly toned version, showing just how much interpretive room there was for colourists, who were rarely present when the photograph was taken.
Together these photographs tell stories about life in this country from almost the earliest days of European colonisation and about how the practice of photography has evolved here, reflecting the dynamic and increasingly diverse nature of the collection, allowing for previously unseen treasures, and enabling familiar works to be recontextualised with fresh insights.
In making the selection, McCredie, says “I looked for photographs that were evocative, resonant, ambiguous, entertaining, and most especially, that might say something about the nature of photography itself.”
Whie no collection of photographs can be comprehensive the book offers many threads which weave together a sense of the nation’s history and culture. It is more than a history of photography tracing out our responses to the landscape, the built environment, events and people.
Through the book we see the taming and changing of the landscape, the changing domestic and commercial architecture, the way we dress and there are images of the citizens we valued for their contribution to our civic and cultural life.
There are portraits of Māori such as Tomika Te Mutu, as well as other history makers such as Peter Fraser, Ed Hillary and Mike Moore along with artists such as Kiri Te Kanawa, Tony Fomison and Yuki Kihara.
We also can see the way in which the photograph has changed from the need to simply record the landscape and people through to experimentation as well as viewing photography as a means of social and political change.
While there no comparative before and after images the book does have images of the changing face of the land as well as images of the major cities and the built environment from the nineteenth century and the twentieth which show the development of the urban areas. We are also able to see the changing nature of clothes, particularly those worn by females.
The inclusion of Frank Hofmann, one of the major modernist photographers is an example of the multi-talented artist who worked across the media providing many of the important modernist photographs as well as portraits. A photograph of the Christopher Bede Studio, which he founded also shows his ability to work across the commercial as well as experimental genres.
Frank Hofmann Christopher Bede Studios, 1967 Gelatin silver print, 418 × 578 mm Purchased 2016, O.044647 Christopher Bede Studios was formed by Frank Hofmann and Bill Doherty around 1950. It focused on home portraiture but also operated a studio, and this photograph was probably taken to promote its new premises being opened in Auckland in 1967. The image clearly sets out to demonstrate the varieties of photography the studio could undertake, from fashion and product photography to portraiture. It is pure advertising though, for it would be fanciful to imagine four photographers actually working simultaneously in the same studio space. The studio had branches in other centres, and in 1970 it claimed to be New Zealand’s largest photographic organisation. In 1975 it became Bede Photography.
There are number of images of individual Māori and Māori society which changes over the course of time from initially being of an ethnographic nature with images by John Nicol Crombuie and Alfred Burton through to seeing Māori as an integral part of society with photos by Ans Westra as well as seeing the inclusion of Māori photographers such as Tia Ranginui and Fiona Pardinton.
There are several small suites of work such as Eric Lee-Johnson images of Opo taken at Opononi in 1956, Gordon Burt’s commercial works mainly of automobiles and the Burton Brothers for their extensive images of the country.
Then there are individual images such as Frede Brockett’s dramatic image of the wreck of La Bella, Theo Schoon’s Geothermal studies or Eric Lee Johnson’s image of a bike wheel and shadow which predate similar work by Bill Culbert who, surprisingly, has no images in the book.
The landscape work in the book range from the nineteenth century images of the Burton Brothers through the NZ Tourism images, the myth-like work “Peter Pan on Mt Eden” by J. W. Chapman-Taylor through to the revisionist work of Mark Adams.
Les Wallace Napier after Hawke’s Bay earthquake, 1931 Gelatin silver print, 158 × 386 mm Gift of Holden New Zealand Limited, 1998, O.005635 The Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 3 February 1931 remains New Zealand’s deadliest natural disaster: 256 lost their lives, and the region was devastated. With limited water to fight the fires that ignited after the quake, eleven blocks of central Napier were completely gutted. According to an eyewitness, by evening the town ‘looked as if it had been subjected to a severe bombardment’: The centre of it for over a mile was a mass of flames. Every concrete and brick building had collapsed. It was like an upheaval and there was a terrible number of deaths . . . A number of people were lying in the streets and buried under the debris. Some were terribly injured and some were dead. The town was all in darkness and that added to the horror of the situation.
While there are not a lot of photographs of dramatic historical events like Les Wallace’s “Napier after the earthquake” there are a few, like Paul Simei Barton’s images of the demonstrations about the Springbok 1982 tour as well as the Covid 19 demonstration in Wellington by Adrian Lambert.
Mark Adams 13.11.2000 Hinemihi, ClandonPark, Surrey, England. Nga Tohunga:Wero Taroi, Tene Waitere, 2000 Chromogenic prints, 1200 × 3200 mm Purchased 2020, O.049055/A-C to C-C Mark Adams has often highlighted cultural incongruities in his photographs, and nowhere more so than in this triptych of the meeting house Hinemihi o te Ao Tawhito standing in a corner of an English country estate. The 1881 house was originally situated at Te Wairoa, the gateway village to the Pink and White Terraces. When Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886, the house was partially buried and subsequently abandoned. In 1891, the Earl of Onslow and Governor of New Zealand purchased Hinemihi and had it dismantled and reinstalled on his English estate as a sort of folly — something he probably didn’t see as incongruous himself, as he bought it as a reminder of his affection for New Zealand. Adams took another equally dissonant triptych that pairs with this photograph. It shows the site where Hinemihi originally stood — now just a forlorn patch of empty land covered in long grass and thistles. Hinemihi will be returned to New Zealand (though probably not to this site), placing Adams’s photograph in dialogue with the future as well as the past.
The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.
Dick Frizzell’s latest show “Weight of the World,” at Gow Langsford could well be a reference to Ringo Starr’s 1998 comeback single of the same name which uses the phrase to describe the struggle of letting go of the past and embracing the future.
The exhibition is ambivalent in terms of the artist’s own life and work, linking the past with his history of breaking new ground. At times his work has seemed to be conservative, borrowing art of the past and outdated advertising images. But this reworking or appropriating images of the past can also be a way of charting new directions for his art.
The exhibition also alludes to his recently published autobiography “Hastings” with its references to growing up in small town New Zealand and the rural landscapes of Central North Island in which the young Frizzell’s encounters with the world of Hastings provide an almost heroic account of his life.
As the artist says “My landscapes occupy a special place in my affections because they define, more than any other of my endeavours, the most solid manifestation of my philosophy. Both the subjects and their manner of representation are chosen to emphasise my eternally optimistic faith in the physical universe that I believe we are ultimately destined to define. I hope… through my piles of hills, stumps, trees and land… to literally convey ‘the gravity of the situation’.”
While his paintings can be seen as simple descriptive works there is a complexity to their construction as well as their context and history. creating dense works about observation, contemplation and significance.
Dick Frizzell, Dirt Road
Several of the landscape images from the exhibition could have been illustrations to his autobiography such as “Dirt Road” ($27,500) and “Backtrack” ($45,000), images that are quintessential New Zealand scenes which link past and present with images which are both descriptive and metaphoric.
There is one work with the same title of the exhibition, “The Weight of the World” ($163,000). It depicts a large tree stump, a reference both to his own tree stump works of the 1980’s as well as those by artists such as Mervyn Taylor and Eric Lee-Johnson. These dead trees were both a symbol of modernism and change as well as an emblematic of the past and loss of identity.
Much of the artist’s work is imbued with this sense of nostalgia and Frizzell has regularly depicted aspects of New Zealand – a series of local businesses, the huts at Scott base and the controversial series of hei tiki works which all helped define the nature of New Zealand culture.
There are a few signs of habitation or figures in his works mainly small insignificant buildings, “Whitebaiter’s Huts” ($27,500) and “Leaning Toilet” ($27,500) but there is also a painting of a Ratana Chapel “The Beginning and the End” $27,500) displaying the words ārepa (alpha) ōmeka (omega), and the large panoramic “Autumn Morning Alexandra” $185,000).
Dick Frizzell, The Beginning and the End
The only paintings of a settlement in the exhibition are “Autumn Morning Alexandra, 2023 “($185,000) and “Alexandra Morning 2019” ($65,000) where the emphasis is on the natural aspects of the view, the distant hills, the colours of the sky and Autumn leaves as well as the surrounding vegetation. The largest work in the exhibition is “Milling Whakaangiangi” ($225,000), a celebration and recognition of the ever-changing face of the land.
As well as taking inspiration from the New Zealand artists of the early twentieth century there are acknowledgment of other artists – such as his Monet-like “Winter, Earnscleugh Road” ($55,000) and a nod to Winslow Homer’s lighthouse with his “Castlepoint”.
Dick Frizzell, Winter, Earnscleugh Road
As with much of the artist’s work there is a wry humour in many of the paintings both in terms of the subject and the titles. A small painting of a pie is titled 27/3/2025” where English and mathematics merge, similar to his Greek / English word play in “The Beginning and the End”.
The exhibition reveals an artist addressing conflicted personal and national histories around land, seeing the land as both a record of our history and a metaphor for our changing identity, seeing the future looming out of the past.
Peter James Smith in speaking about the impetus behind his landscape paintings has noted his debt to T S Eliot’s “Four Quartets” and in particular “Burnt Norton” with its notion of transcending time to achieve a sense of timelessness.
Time before and time after In a dim light: neither daylight Investing form with lucid stillness Turning shadow into transient beauty
This can be seen in his latest exhibition “Zealandia” where the artist examines Zealandia, the earth’s largely submerged continent beneath the waters of the Southwest Pacific Ocean with only a few islands like New Zealand and New Caledonia breaking the surface to reveal parts of the super continent of Gondwana.
These islands, historical remnants of an ancient time and still revealing themselves, link past and present through a process of discovery both scientific and historical.
With many of his paintings the landscape forms are often shrouded in this dim light and their shadowy forms seem to take on a substantial form, transporting them from the eighteenth century and the voyages of Capt Cook as well as later voyagers.
With “Zealandia” ($8500) there is sense that the artist is describing the underlying landscape of rocks, islands and headlands beneath the water’s surface, as though these forms are thrusting their way upwards.
Smith like many other artists with a Romantic approach to landscape see his subjects as a powerful, emotional forces, depicting the raw, uncontrollable aspects of nature such as storms, mountains, and wild, untamed places. The landscapes used to express subjective feelings and the sublime, highlighting nature’s grandeur.
Unlike many Romantic artist Smith does not include human figures to emphasis the grandeur of nature but rather includes ideas about man’s measurement of the forces of nature.
In his paintings he employs diagrammatic symbols and marks which indicate of natural forces and aspects of scientific enquiry such as concepts of the angle of sunlight, speed of tide or ocean currents.
The marks he often applies to his paintings can be cartographic indicating the outlines of landscape or the passages into harbours, they can also be the recording of rainfall or the forces of nature.
Then there are the written descriptions of the landscape giving the location, the dates of original or important events as well as a references to Plato’s concept of perception which is noted in “Rain Shadow (Lake Tekapo”) ($8,500).
With his “The Passage of History” ($15,500) the artist includes a short summary of Captain John Grono’s adventures in Doubtful sounds in 1813 where he rescued several marooned sealers. He also includes a map of the area as well as a distance indicator in sea miles.
A similar work “Wind Across Dusky Bay” ($15,500) features a map of the Dusky Bay area with a text about Capt. Cook’s arrival in 1773 which includes the route taken by his ship “Resolution”. He has also included wispy shapes of the water being driven across the surface of the bay.
The view in this work is frames as though being seen through an observation window, emphasizing the notion of historical distance and that this was the area where Cook established an observatory so enable him to accurately fix his position in New Zealand.
The work “Leaps of the Spirit” ($10,500) which depicts the Lady Bowen Falls combines Romantic landscapes with gestural marks exploring themes of artistic intervention, history, time, and perception.
The works full title “Leaps of the Spirit Across the Void” has something of a Miltonian flavour and reflects the artists notion of the interconnectedness of science and spirituality, where mathematical certainty meets artistic vision to create a holistic understanding of the world.
The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki will present the first solo exhibition in Aotearoa New Zealand of Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), one of the most intriguing and influential artists of the last century.
Opening 27 September, Louise Bourgeois: In Private View brings together a selection of works from an international private collection, exhibited publicly for the first time. The exhibition spans over six decades of Bourgeois’s career, from early paintings made in 1945 to a fabric work from the final year of her life
Auckland Art Gallery Senior Curator, Global Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland, says, “Bourgeois remains a defining figure in late twentieth-century art with the ripples of her influence still being felt today. She is known for her highly personal and idiosyncratic sculptural practice which has lent her a special place in the history of art.” “The works in the exhibition are from a private collection lived with over many years, reflecting a deep and personal appreciation of her practice.”
Widely celebrated for her psychologically charged and bold sculptural practice, Bourgeois explored themes of memory, family, the body and the subconscious, often drawing from personal experiences.
She is best known for her series of large spider sculptures, which have been installed in many major international cities.
Highlights include paintings and her first series of sculptures, the Personages, from the 1940s and early ‘50s; Lair sculptures from the early 1960s; and significant later works, such as textile-based sculptures and sculptural enclosures.
Louise Bourgeois. Spider VI
Spider VI (2002) is a wall-mounted example of her internationally acclaimed series of spider sculptures, which she began in the mid-1990s. Also featured is her extraordinary hanging sculpture, The Couple, and late outdoor piece, Eyes.
A series of curator tours and talks, open lates, as well as family-friendly activities has been programmed with the exhibition. The Gallery Shop has also launched a new range of Bourgeois inspired products which includes socks, brooches, books and more.
Pop to Present: American Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Auckland Art Gallery
November 8th 2025–March 15 2026
John Daly-Peoples
This year the Auckland Art Gallery scored a great success with their “A century of Modern Art” exhibition sourced from the Toledo Museum of Art. Not only was it an extensive look at the art of the twentieth century but also included some significant works.
Later this year the gallery will be looking to repeat the success of that exhibition with “Pop to Present” a major show highlighting the diverse artistic voices from the United States, spanning from1945 to the present day.
Opening in November, “Pop to Present:” will be showing American Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 52 works reflecting eight decades of extraordinary artistic experimentation and cultural transformation in the United States. The exhibition includes abstract paintings, vibrant Pop canvases and hyper-detailed photorealist compositions along with Minimalist sculptures, richly textured pieces inspired by craft and domestic traditions, and contemporary figurative works that explore questions of identity, power and representation.
Showcasing 28 works by women and African American and Indigenous artists, the exhibition places well-known names in conversation with artists from diverse backgrounds to offer a broad and inclusive overview of recent American art. Artists featured in this comprehensive survey include Benny Andrews, Thornton Dial, Roslyn Drexler, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Gilliam, Philip Guston, Barkley L. Hendricks, Norman Lewis, Virgil Ortiz, Howardena Pindell, Jackson Pollock, Martin Puryear, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Mark Rothko, Kiki Smith, Clyfford Still and Andy Warhol.
“Experimenting with new materials while responding to the cultural and technological shifts of their time, the artists featured in Pop to Present challenged America’s social and artistic norms in ways that are still meaningful today,” says Kenneth Brummel, Curator, International Art, Auckland Art Gallery. “The exhibition also presents a large number of works by artists rarely seen in this part of the world”
Alma Thomas. Forsythia and Pussy Willows Begin Spring
Standouts in the exhibition include” Forsythia and Pussy Willows Begin Spring” a vibrant colour-field abstraction by Alma Thomas, an iconic Pop landscape by Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol’s Triple Elvis (1963).
Warhol’s “Triple Elvis” was based on the singer-turned-gunslinger portrait of Elvis Presley on a publicity photograph for the 1960 western Flaming Star. This public persona was ideally suited to Warhol’s aim to focus on surface appearance rather than psychological interpretation. The overlapping multiple figures suggest individual film frames and cinematic motion, while the work’s metallic background evokes Hollywood’s silver screen.
Barkley Hendricks. Sisters (Susan and Toni)
Barkley Hendricks was an American painter and photographer who revolutionized portraiture through his realist and post-modern paintings of Black Americans living in urban areas in the 1960s and 1970s. “Sisters (Susan and Toni)” is a painting of two stylish women Hendricks met in Boston belongs to a series of works with dark backgrounds, against which the bright shirts and jewellery stands out.
This work and others in the exhibition are an indication of the strength of the museum’s holdings of art by black American artists of the American South.
The museum is among the largest art museum in North America for area of exhibition space and its comprehensive art collection includes ancient art, African art and American art, British sporting art, and Himalayan art. As part of their exhibit of decorative arts the museum has the largest public display of Faberge eggs outside of Russia, owning five. It is one of the first museums in the American South to be operated by state funds.
“We are proud to share the overall breadth of the VMFA collection, and in particular the importance of the Sydney and Frances Lewis collection that anchors it” says exhibition curators Sarah Powers and Alexis Assam the Regenia A. Perry Assistant Curator of Global and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.
The paintings in Aroha Gossage’s new exhibition “Into the Light” are grounded in her connection to the whenua of Pakiri, north of Auckland where she lives.
They continue Gossage’s exploration of land, light, and ancestry, the paintings serving as links between observation of her environment and reflections on her connections to the land and to her ancestors.
Several of the works are titled after their subject matter, simple renderings of native trees – Nikau, Macrocarpa and Manuka. These works follow in the tradition of botanical artists such as Sir Joseph Banks who identified Manuka in 1769 during his time with Captain Cook on his first voyage aboard the Endeavour and many artists have depicted trees and their flowers since then notably Emily Cumming Harris and Shane Cotton.
Aroha Gossage, Manuka
Gossage’s “Manuka” ($2700) is painted in golden tones giving it an enigmatic quality where earth and foliage are connected, creating an image which transcends the physical. ”Manuka” is part of group of four small works which have distinctive colouring, due to the earth pigments the artist has collected from sites around her local environment.
While most of her works are of botanical subjects there are a few which include figures, or at least the spirits or manifestations of figures. Rather than earthly figures they suggest ancestral presence. As the title of the show suggest these figures are journeying towards the light of a new place or a new understanding.
In the large ”Anahera” ($9800) a caped / shrouded figure inhabits an abstract environment with traces of foligare snaking through the work. There is a sense of another world in which ancestors dwell, the paintings connecting the physicality of this world with the spirituality of the other-world .
Aroha Gossage, Light
This can also be seen in “Light” ($2700) with one indistinct form and “Tupuna” ($9800) with several shapes inhabiting a forest of trees. With the works that include figures it is noticeable that while the trees are painted with distinctive realism the figures are indistinct and ethereal.
Some of her works such as “Witi” ($4750) have a quiet drama to them like Rita Angus’ “Tree”. ”Witi” is also impressive because of its deep red earth pigment which seems to it refer to bush fires, destruction and renewal.
Works such as “Hine” ($2700) and “Macrocarpa” with their dark tones seem to be ghost-like images of the trees rather than mere depictions, as though inhabiting another dimension.
The suggestion of another world is created in many of these painting by veils of overlapping colour where the air around the foliage and figures in infused with earthy tones.
There are a couple of works which are pure landscape “Pakiri Dunes” ($9800) and “Kaitaki” ($9800).These do not have the same density or richness as the others works being descriptive with fewer allusions to another dimension.
The current exhibition “Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua” is the artists first comprehensive exhibition of his work and features more than 65 works spanning his 50-years as a photographer. documenting the land, the people and its history. These photographs are of places across the Pacific, the United Kingdom and Europe.
Much of his practice documenting sites of significance across the country, include places where Captain James Cook and his crew came ashore on their visits in 1769 and the 1770s, as well as locations where Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed in 1840.
Over the decades, Adams has sustained a deep and ongoing engagement with subjects of interest. He has photographed whakairo Māori (Māori carving) both here and overseas and the work of, Samoan master tattoo artists, Māori–Pākehā interactions in Rotorua, carved meeting houses, locations of significance for Ngāi Tahu in Te Waipounamu and the place of museums and photography in the area of cross-cultural exchange.
It includes photographs taken across the Pacific, the United Kingdom and Europe that explore the migration of artistic and cultural practices across the globe, and examine the role of museums, and photography itself, in the ongoing area of cross-cultural exchange.
The various sections of the book show Adams’ range of work from his early works, his focus on Rotorua, tatau, Treaty Signing Sites, Museums, Cooks Sites Māori meeting house in overseas locations, Te Waipounamu and his more recent interest in Photograms.
Several of his multi-image work are fascinating in their scope and production but the book does not do them credit, even when spread across several pages. With these works the exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery make an impression in some cases filling an entire wall of the gallery. “0 degrees” is such a work, a panoramic 360-degree set of images taken at Greenwich Park which includes the Royal Observatory, the home of Greenwich Mean Time and Prime Meridian.
Other works on a grand scale include his “Nine Fathoms Passage”, the photographers view replicating William Hodges view of Dusky Sound, and his panorama of the meeting house, Hinemihi in the grounds of Clandon Park in Surrey, England as well as the magnificent meeting house Rauru in the Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg.
Mark Adams, 13.11.2000. Hinemihi. Clandon Park. Surrey. England. Ngā tohunga whakairo: Wero Tāroi, Tene Waitere, 2000, colour inkjet prints, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, 2014.
Author of the book Sarah Farrar says “You could say that, in many respects, Mark has been ahead of his time as a Pākehā and Palagi artist. But what does that really mean — to be ‘early’ or ‘ahead of one’s time’? It’s all relative and I’m sure many people would view a respectful approach to tangata whenua and tangata o le moana as seriously overdue.”
Adams’ photographs are of exceptional quality and intriguing in their distinctive approach to subject matter. The viewer is challenged to interpret , question and reflect on them. One commentator, Damian Skinner has noted that Adams photographs “offer no resolution, only problems. They patiently track the material traces of various forces that coalesce in specific sites”.
Mark Adams, 19.05.1989. Te Ana o Hineraki. Moa Bone Point Cave. Redcliffs. Ōtautahi Christchurch. Te Waipounamu South Island, 1989, gold-toned silver bromide fibre-based prints, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, 2014.
Generally, with photographs of important sites the photographer is essentially saying – “I was here – this is how it looks”. However, with many of Mark Adams photographs of historical sites, the land seems of little interest, often devoid of figures. With these the photographer seems to be saying “this is how it looked”. The photographs require the viewer to transport themselves back to that place but in another time.
Sarrah Farrar notes “His photographs of museums and art galleries remind me of the artifice and stagecraft that we are actively involved in as curators and museum professionals. Every decision we make communicates something to audiences. We construct meaning through the selection of objects (even those that are absent), their placement and their interpretation. Mark’s photographs remind me of the power dynamics and knowledge systems that are inscribed in museum, library and art gallery experiences — even embedded into the design of the buildings themselves. A great example of this is Mark’s panorama of the science-fiction-like modernist design of Berlin’s Staatsbibliothek, which feels so at odds with the fact that it’s the home of the journals of Georg Forster, the naturalist who travelled with James Cook on his second voyage.”
Mark Adams, 1988. Hori Korei. George Grey monument. Albert Park. Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, 1988, silver bromide print, courtesy of the artist.
The book is a stylish, superbly-designed production with over 200 images, mainly black and white. It features an excellent text by Sarah Farrar as well as a forward by Ngahuia te Awekotuku and afterword by Nichlos Thomas
The Art of Banksy – the major exhibition which has brought Banksy’s era defining works to over 1.5 million visitors in 19 cities across the globe will visit Auckland for a final and strictly limited New Zealand season. The exhibition will be hosted at Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Aotea Centre (Hunua Rooms) from Monday 7 July through Sunday 3 August 2025.
The Art of Banksy is the world’s largest collection of original and authenticated Banksy art showcasing more than 150 pieces including prints, canvases and unique works. The collection wowed thousands of Wellingtonians in 2024 and now it’s Auckland’s turn.
Michel Boersma, curator and producer of the exhibition says: “Following a hugely successful 19 city global tour and 2 years in London, UK, we’re very excited to bring this larger-than-ever collection to Auckland, bigger and better! The last 9 years we have been working with collectors in expanding the collection which we are able to display, from 70 in Auckland in 2018 to over 150 authenticated and genuine works, no replicas – the real deal. I am particularly proud that trusted associates of Banksy, for example Ben Eine, have been willing to contribute to the exhibit with their privately held works, gifts and hand drawn sketches and video testimonials. This way The Art of Banksy is able to lift the veil on how some of the iconic Banksy works were created and reveals some of the secret stunts they got up to.”
Daniel Clarke, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Director of Performing Arts, leading Auckland Live adds: “We’re delighted to be working with GTP Exhibitions to bring The Art of Banksy to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. As one of the world’s most successful contemporary artists Banksy’s work consistently captures the public’s attention and imagination – over a million people worldwide have seen the exhibition – so to have this number of works on show is a hugely exciting addition to our winter events season.”
Visitors at The Art of Banksy can expect to see the seminal artworks that brought the infamously anonymous artist international notoriety such as Girl With Balloon in four different colour variations, including the rare Gold Edition. Banksy fans can also see unique personalised gift prints created for friends, associates and lovers. The exhibition also focuses on Banksy’s Dismaland and recent artworks acknowledging the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Many of Banksy’s iconic works are also featured in the exhibition including a very rare collection of ‘thank you prints which Banksy created as gifts to staff and team members who worked with him at Dismaland and other Banksy stunts. The exhibition also features a series of unique hand drawn sketches by Banksy. The fragile pieces of paper are one-of-a-kind depicting Banksy’s working on versions of his famous rat images.
The Art of Banksy is an unmissable show for anyone who wants to learn more about one of the world’s most important current artists and what their work reveals today; the power of art to affect social change, inspire the public and lay bare the undercurrents of social issues.
The Art of Banksy is not curated or authorised by the artist and only displays authenticated art sold or gifted by the Artist, no replicas or art removed from the street.
Banksy’s Dismaland
ART OF BANKSY
Monday 7 July – Sunday 3 August 2025 Mon – Wed: 10am – 6pm Thu – Sun: 10am – 9pm
Martin Creed, Work No 3769, Work No 3764, Work No 2053
Three exhibitions K Rd – Palmer, Creed, Parekōwhai.
Stanley Palmer, New Work
Melanie Roger Gallery
Until February 22
Martin Creed, Like Favourite Socks in a Drawer
Michael Lett
Until March 1
Michael Parekōwhai, The Indefinite Article
Artspace Aotearoa
Until April 17
Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples
Current exhibitions along Karangahape Rd offers a range of art works from the realist depictions of the landscape to abstract paintings and conceptual construction.
With his latest exhibition at Melanie Roger Gallery Stanley Palmer continues his depictions of the New Zealand landscape. Like many of his previous exhibition he has painted views of the New Zealand coastline featuring dramatic vistas of headlands and offshore islands.
With this new series of works he has revisited many of his previous subjects including depictions of Karamea, Great Barrier Island, Chathams, Great Mercury Island and Matauiri. While these are mainly landscape there are a few which also feature other element in the landscape which add a visual drama as in “Akiaki – Chathams” ($30,000) where he has included windswept trees and grazing sheep.
Stanley Palmer, “Akiaki – Chathams”
These paintings seem to be less detailed than some of his previous work and there is a simplicity which gives these works an added drama. Part of this drama comes from the artists shrewd use of paint, so that in “Awana- Aotea Great Barrier” ($22,000) the eroded cliffs are highlighted by the gash of earthy colours and in “Mataurui” ($28,000) the red line of a track is like an abstract slash through the landscape.
Stanley Palmer “Mataurui”
In most of the works the background of sea meeting sky shows a clever juxtaposition of shimmering abstract blues with subtle variations between each of the paintings
Also included in the exhibition are some of the artist’s earlier bamboo prints of the early 1970’s including “Hillside Town Kohukohu” ($2250).
Stanley Palmer “Hillside Town Kohukohu”
Martin Creed’s minimalist works have always played with the definition of art and art making starting with his Turner winning installation “Work No. 227: The lights going on and off: an empty room” in which the gallery lights switched on and off at 5-second intervals.
His work is a mixture of the witty, poetic and philosophical, making use of a range of everyday materials and approaches which challenge traditional views of art.
His current show “Like Favourite Socks in a Drawer” brings together elements of chance, time and structure with a series of ziggurat shaped works. The works started with his decision to buy an ordinary multi pack of commercial paint brushes.
Martin Creed, Work No 3764
With these he applied paint in different colours with the varying brush sizes, stacking the colours one above the other to create stepped, random bands of colour.
The paintings/designs can be seen as referencing the ziggurat forms of ancient Mesopotamia and Mexico as well as more recent brutalist constructions and has connections with Rewi Thompson’s block-like house in Kohimarama. There are also hints of Frank Stella, Donald Judd and Cuisenaire rods.
Creed says of the works “A step pyramid is solid and easy to understand. It is a safe structure that is not going to fall down. It is trustworthy. You can see how it is built. The steps are hopefully leading to the top, and you can enjoy the colours on the way up. In a blobby, soupy, ill-defined world it can be helpful to put your ducks in a row.”
The works have a sense of the structure to them with their build-up of coloured shapes and in works such as “Work No 3764” (USD $22,000 plus GST) there is sense of the artist gestural involvement where the striations of the brown / sepia are visible as a single calligraphic stroke. With others there is the notion of time with the various strokes of colour measuring out the time taken to complete each work
Martin Creed, Work No 3766
Some of the work display additions to the quick gesture with Creed scumbling the yellow band in “Work No 3766” (USD $22,000 plus GST). This work like some other has a humorous element with the painting looking like a celebratory, multi-layered birthday cake.
The works all convey Creed’s minimalism of means, notions of time along with the structuring and ordering of objects shapes and colours.
Michael Parekōwhai, The Indefinite Article
Artspace is exhibiting Michael Parekōwhai’s sculptural object, “The Indefinite Article (1990) which had previously been shown at Artspace in 1990 in the show “Choice” curated by George Hubbard
The large letters based on McCahon’s cubist stylised letters constructed of MDF spell out the words “I AM HE”. Which references some of the McCahon paintings featuring the words “I Am”.
While borrowing from McCahon the work can also be seen as creating a bilingual pun linking the words to te reo where “HE” can be read as the indefinite article where the word can be defined as -a, an, some – or it can also mean something is wrong, mistaken or incorrect.
Other linguistic variations can be identified with the words. During the ”Cultural Safety” exhibition in Frankfort in 1995 where the work was shown this reviewer noted at the time – “His large word sculpture using the words of the Colin McCahon painting I AM HE was quickly identified by one perceptive German journalist as coming from the pen of John Lennon in “I Am the Walrus” [I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together] rather than the Bible or McCahon.
The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.
27/3/2025” where English and mathematics merge, similar to his Greek / English word play in “The Beginning and the End”.
New Zealand Arts Review 