What’s On
Marilynn Webb: Folded in the Hills
A major survey exhibition of Ngāpuhi, Te Roroa and Ngāti Kahu artist Marilynn Webb.
From Here on the Ground
Populated places and cityscapes converge with backyards, factories and remote railway stops. Open now!
Cora-Allan: Encountering Aotearoa
A major body of new work that considers the whenua from the vantage point of the moana.
Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm
Late night Wednesday until 9pm
Free entry, free wifi
Notes
Meeting Douglas MacDiarmid
When I visited Paris after the Biennale, I enjoyed a memorable evening with New Zealand painter and long-time Paris resident, Douglas MacDiarmid. The Gallery bought a small work of his from the estate of Albion Wright about a year ago for the Norman Barrett bequest collection. They all knew each other, so it was apt.
Notes
Max Gimblett on show in Pittsburgh
New York-based New Zealand artist Max Gimblett has a new exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, US. The Sound of One Hand opened on 17 September, and it would have been nice to be there.
Notes
Ascension in Venice
I've long admired the work of Anish Kapoor, an Indian-born British artist, who shows all over the world. I first saw a work of his in a touring show of modern British art around 1984 at Queensland Art Gallery where I was working at the time (I think it went to the former National Art Gallery in Wellington as well - those were the days). Fine powder in primary colours covered abstracted shapes and fanned out slightly on the surface of the floor; it was quite wonderful.
Notes
‘Oceania’ x 2 in Wellington
I was pleased to see both components of Oceania in Wellington on the opening weekend. A great idea for City Gallery and Te Papa to mount connected exhibitions, effectively two distinct components of one show, and to market these together. It's an effective and rewarding combo for all those international visitors coming to the city over the next month or two.
Notes
Gordon Crook 1921 – 2011
If, when we're open, an artist represented in our collection dies, we generally arrange for a work of theirs to be hung at the top of the stairs on the side of the entrance to the Burdon Family Gallery, with a label that notes their contribution and recent passing. I like this simple convention and the respect it shows for an arts practitioner whose contribution to New Zealand art we've thought well enough of to acquire.
Notes
Venice Biennale
It's taken me a while to write about Venice, but the show's still on and the first week of the 2011 Biennale in this memorable and surprising city still fresh in my mind. I was New Zealand's commissioner again and it was a proud moment for us all as visitors poured in – and stayed to listen to the continuous concert – during the Vernissage (the opening few days, in 2011 from 30 May-3 June) of the longest-standing and most prestigious international art exhibition.
Notes
Some things never change
One of the good things (yes, surprisingly there are a few) about being closed is that staff are doing all kinds of interesting behind-the-scenes tasks.
Notes
Reopening Christchurch Art Gallery. Alas, tomorrow is too soon!
If I were given $1 (even 10 cents) every time I had been asked when the Gallery is reopening, I would be rich. And, make no mistake, when the Gallery does reopen, I'll be very happy. I loved the compelling nature of Warren Feeney's column (29 July), with its ten good reasons why the Gallery should open tomorrow. I agreed with each one – and could have supplied ninety more. But alas, tomorrow is too soon.
Notes
From the director
As many of you know, Christchurch Art Gallery has been closed to visitors since 22 February 2011 when an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck New Zealand's second largest city. It's the second major earthquake to strike Christchurch and came just over six months after the first on 4 September 2010.