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But seriously

But seriously

When it comes to contemporary painting, seriousness has a way of turning into solemnity, and solemn art is just asking for it.

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Van der Velden vs McCahon

Van der Velden vs McCahon

Van der Velden is leaving the building.

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Size matters

Size matters

More moments to treasure emerge from our digitisation of early Gallery exhibitions.

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When Dallington was green (not red)

When Dallington was green (not red)

It has dirty yellows and dun-greens, under silvery mid-winter light. You might even call it drab, a deliberate exercise in the un-picturesque. It's Dallington many decades ago, as seen by Russell Clark – a painting which, on an ordinary day, you might find yourself walking right past.

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Icons

Icons

Congratulations...

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Exhibition Proposals for Chambers@241

Expressions of interest for solo and group exhibitions by artists based in Christchurch are requested for the period August to December 2011 in the newly established Chambers@241 art gallery at 241 Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch.

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The Dutch 'Dude'

The Dutch 'Dude'

In-house disappointment at the closure of the Van der Velden exhibition has been lifted today by rumours of Hollywood interest in the story of the Dutch painter and his sorties into the weather-lashed upper reaches of the South Island alpine pass.

Collection
Wainui Bay, Akaroa

Rita Angus Wainui Bay, Akaroa

In the summer of 1943, during the height of World War II, Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Rita Angus was called up by the Industrial Manpower Board to report for work at a local factory as part of the country’s war effort. Angus was a pacifist, so she chose instead to move to Wainui, a small coastal settlement in Akaroa Harbour, where she spent several weeks. Wainui was a refuge, a place of retreat and recuperation for Angus, and she embarked on an extraordinary series of small watercolours of the surrounding landscape. The intense attention to detail and her precision and clarity in applying the watercolour paints is exceptional. Angus wrote: “Wainui is charming, the bach is built on a rise overlooking the harbour and opposite Akaroa, and the weather has been rather wonderful. […] I find the bach very comfortable, most of my subjects are near here. I’m aware of much I’ve not noticed before, and how very short is one’s life. Again a hermit, I can reflect on the last few weeks in Christchurch, they were wonderful weeks to me. […] I thought I could be a more simple hermit than I am.”

He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil (from August 2024)

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Against Amnesia

Against Amnesia

When in doubt, I reach for the work of walker, watcher, landscape writer, polymath and maverick intellectual Rebecca Solnit.

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Right said Fred

There is something inherently comical about shifting a piano.

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