The long mountain chain in Tony de Lautour’s Landscape is a reminder of how the Southern Alps form a backbone for the South Island of New Zealand but, obviously, this is not a traditional landscape. Exploring the idea of location, de Lautour has coiled this ‘spine’ into the symbol for ‘at’, which has become a standard feature of email addresses. The numbers around the mountain continue the theme, suggesting dates (location in history) or even altitude readings (location in space). Landscape combines references to real, remembered and imagined worlds. Adrift in the centre of a large black unstretched canvas, the painted @ continues de Lautour’s recent use of other familiar symbols, often those associated with commerce, such as the MacIntosh ‘apple’ and the copyright symbol. De Lautour was born in Melbourne. He studied at the University of Canterbury in 1988 and continues to live in Christchurch. He has exhibited regularly throughout New Zealand since 1990. In 1995 de Lautour received the Premier Award in the Visa Gold Art Award.

(Opening Gallery hang, 2003)