Described by Warren Feeney in his Press review (full text reproduced below) as offering "something seriously magical - a sense of the drama and mystery of an imagined medieval tale", this exhibition by Christchurch collaboration Edwards + Johann has intrigued and charmed many of our visitors, which have included several tertiary and school groups, like the pupils from St Andrew's College who visited last week. All good things etc etc though, so if you'd like to see it in person, and time and space allow, come along to 209 Tuam Street (first floor) before 4pm, this coming Sunday 2 November. 

'Drama, mystery and a return to sincerity' by Warren Feeney

GO, The Press, Christchurch Friday, September 5, 2014, p. 14

Edwards + Johann, Rebels, Knights and Other Tomorrows, at Christchurch Art Gallery Outer Spaces, 209 Tuam Street, until November 2. In its title alone, Rebels, Knights and Other Tomorrows represents important aspects of the working processes of Edwards + Johann – playing with mythologies and fantasies, fact and fiction, dressing up, acting out a favourite story or game or even a quest for a holy grail. Concise and rigorous in its selection of images and response to the gallery space, Rebels, Knights and Other Tomorrows exploits the potential of black and grey to orchestrate moments of colour and delight throughout the gallery, offering up something seriously magical – a sense of the drama and mystery of an imagined medieval tale. Yet, although its dress-up knights appear as stately medieval gentlemen, they are ultimately revealed as Don Quixote – idealism, romanticism and grandness all uncovered in the glare of the reality of daylight. The fluff and colour of the frills of garments are exposed as featherdusters and knightly helmets as puffed-up balaclavas. Rebels, Knights and Other Tomorrows is playful, but also demanding in the way that the expectations of gallery visitors are contested. It is the ambiguity between appearance and reality in the figures, objects, stories and mythologies that Edwards + Johann disclose that underscores the intentions of their work. Edwards +Johann assemble familiar, yet deceptive images that draws attention to the transformative and ambiguous nature of narratives, celebrating the act of making art. Yet, the triumph of Rebels, Knights and Other Tomorrows ultimately resides in the way in which the audience, in the act of viewing, also finds itself caught up in this process. The magic of Rebels, Knights and Other Tomorrows is not so much in its evocation of past mythologies but in the opportunities it creates for the gallery visitor of an experience of tangible mysteries in the here and now.