Article
Quiet invasion

Quiet invasion

The idea of peppering the vestigial city centre with portraits from the collection became part of the Gallery's tenth birthday POPULATE! programme, intended to remind all of us that the collection is, indeed, still here and in good shape.

Notes
The Mouse-trap by Petrus van der Velden

The Mouse-trap by Petrus van der Velden

This article first appeared as 'Cleverly caught' in The Press on 14 February 2014.

Article
Shifting Lines

Shifting Lines

It's where we live: the encrusted surface of a molten planet, rotating on its own axis, circling round the star that gives our daylight. Geographically, it's a mapped-out city at the edge of a plain, bordered by sea and rising, broken geological features. Zooming in further, it's a neighbourhood, a street, a shelter – all things existing at first as outlines, drawings, plans. And it's a body: portable abode of mind, spirit, psyche (however we choose to view these things); the breathing physical location of unique identity and passage.

Notes
Who let the dog out?

Who let the dog out?

I was browsing recently through the online collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and came to an abrupt halt before a sculptural work by the artist Marisol, a detail of which is shown here.

Notes
New exhibition: Shifting Lines

New exhibition: Shifting Lines

Here's a little from behind the scenes. Shifting Lines opens tomorrow, 9 November, and runs until 19 January 2014. It's a show about drawing as an idea, which is permitted here to take very different forms. It includes work by six artists – Andrew Beck, Peter Trevelyan, Katie Thomas, Pip Culbert, Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano – all of whom use line to investigate space and structure in unexpected ways.

Notes
The 18th century power paunch

The 18th century power paunch

There are websites for everything. Here's a recent discovery by a colleague, a site to which we could make a nice contribution or two ourselves – I mean from the collection.

Exhibition

Shifting Lines

Six artists use line to investigate space and structure in unexpected ways.

Notes
Morose Jester

Morose Jester

An early work by Sydney Lough Thompson (1877-1973) is a recent addition to the collection, having been left to the Gallery by generous bequest.

Notes
Rooftops, backyards, urban scapes

Rooftops, backyards, urban scapes

As a supplement to the article in today's Press GO section, highlighting the recent purchase of Ivy Fife's Untitled (Towards Worcester Street from St. Elmo Courts), here's a modest selection of paintings of rooftops, backyards and urban scapes from the collection...

Article
Yvonne Todd: The Wall of Man

Yvonne Todd: The Wall of Man

A succinct ad placed in the classifieds of the North Shore Times in March 2009 attracted some forty applicants. Respondents were shown a photographic portrait of an unnamed executive, and directed towards ervon.com – artist Yvonne Todd's website – to decide whether or not they wanted to be photographed. Some still did. The unfolding story might not have been exactly what they'd expected, but all who agreed understood it would be something different. Next came the eliminations: sixteen men were chosen to be photographed; twelve made it to the final cut. The resulting images were printed at varying sizes and titled: International Sales Director, Retired Urologist, Family Doctor, Senior Executive, Hospital Director, Company Founder, Sales Executive, Chief Financial Officer, Image Consultant, Independent Manufacturing Director, Publisher, Agrichemical Spokesman. This is The Wall of Man.

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