This exhibition is now closed

Brent Harris: Towards the Swamp

6 November 2019 –
23 February 2020

Brent Harris explores uneasy psychological states in works that are both elegant and grotesque.

Harris’s distinctive process begins with automatic drawings – a way of working that allows the subconscious to rise to the surface – which are then progressively refined: figures swim up from inky darkness and revelations appear in the sky, while narrative form begins to emerge from abstraction. Centred around his important Swamp series, this exhibition explores the influence of Edvard Munch’s woodcut Towards the forest II on this New Zealand-born Australian artist’s work. It includes paintings and prints from a major gift to Christchurch Art Gallery, and an exhibition video in which the artist talks about the making of his work.

Curator:
Lara Strongman

Exhibition number: 1082

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Brent Harris: Towards the Swamp

Artist Brent Harris explores uneasy psychological states in works that are both elegant and grotesque.

Harris’s distinctive process begins with automatic drawings – a way of working that allows the subconscious to rise to the surface – which are then progressively refined: figures swim up from inky darkness and revelations appear in the sky, while narrative form begins to emerge from abstraction. Centred around his important Swamp series, the exhibition Brent Harris: Towards the Swamp explored the influence of Edvard Munch’s woodcut 'Towards the forest II' on this New Zealand-born Australian artist’s work. It included paintings and prints from a major gift to Christchurch Art Gallery, and this exhibition video in which the artist talks about the making of his work.

Brent Harris: Towards the Swamp was on display from 6 November 2019 – 23 February 2020.

Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword

Director's Foreword

Spring is traditionally seen as a time of change, and these last few months have been no exception; since the last issue of the magazine was published in September we’ve made some significant changes at the Gallery.

Continued

Interview
Appalling Moments and Abstract Elegies

Appalling Moments and Abstract Elegies

Brent Harris is an Australian artist, well known for a practice that explores the productive tension between abstraction and figuration. By locating emotional content in figures that he develops from automatic drawing, his works frequently express an uneasy human subjectivity. But while his imagery deals with intense psychological states, it is often also darkly funny: monsters of the subconscious, both grotesque and ridiculous, rise to the surface in a process of emotional identification and gradual refinement.

Continued

Notes
Brent Harris treats Christchurch to first solo exhibition

Brent Harris treats Christchurch to first solo exhibition

Celebrated artist Brent Harris will exhibit at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū in November.

Brent Harris The Other Side #5 2017 Photopolymer gravure with multiple screenprinted layers. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, gift of the artist, 2018

Brent Harris Peaks (The Other Side) 2019 Oil on linen. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, purchased 2019