This exhibition is now closed
US V THEM: Tony de Lautour
5 May –
16 September 2018
Tony de Lautour Leave Her 2008. Acrylic on linen. Collection of M. and J. Flowerday
Welcome to the low brow, high art world of Tony de Lautour’s paintings, sculptures and ceramics.
One of New Zealand’s leading painters, de Lautour’s early works drew from wide-ranging sources including seedy underground street culture, tattoos, post-punk music and comic books as well as fine English porcelain and antiques. De Lautour was awarded a New Zealand Arts Laureate in 2012, and over the past decade his painting has developed into a unique take on geometric abstraction. US V THEM brings together a selection of de Lautour’s work produced over the past thirty years.
My Gallery
Collection works in this exhibition
Curator:
Peter Vangioni
Exhibition number: 1054
Presented by
Contemporary Art Partner
Related
film
Into The Void: Paralysed
Into the Void performing Paralysed at Christchurch Art Gallery on Friday 4 May 2018. The gig formed part of the Gallery’s fifteenth birthday celebrations, and also opened Us V Them: Tony de Lautour.
Into the Void are Jason Greig, Paul Sutherland, Mark Whyte, Dave Imlay and Ronnie van Hout.
Video produced by Belmont Productions.
film
Into The Void: Black Widow
Into the Void performing Black Widow at Christchurch Art Gallery on Friday 4 May 2018. The gig formed part of the Gallery’s fifteenth birthday celebrations, and also opened Us V Them: Tony de Lautour.
Into the Void are Jason Greig, Paul Sutherland, Mark Whyte, Dave Imlay and Ronnie van Hout.
Video produced by Belmont Productions.
film
US V THEM Tony de Lautour
Welcome to the low-brow, high-art world of Tony de Lautour’s paintings, sculptures and ceramics. One of New Zealand’s leading painters, de Lautour’s early works drew from wide-ranging sources including seedy underground street culture, post-punk music and comic books as well as fine English porcelain and antiques. Over the past decade his painting has developed into a unique take on geometric abstraction. In this short video Tony talks with the exhibition’s curator Peter Vangioni.
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and Tony de Lautour wish to thank Creative New Zealand, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, The Chartwell Trust and the lenders to the exhibition US V THEM: Tony de Lautour for their generosity and support.
With thanks to our strategic partners: Chapman Tripp, EY, Fulton Hogan and NZI, and Christchurch City Council.
Video produced by Belmont Productions Ltd.
Exhibition
Silent Patterns
5 February 2016 – 30 June 2018
An outdoor painting inspired by wartime Dazzle camouflage.
Exhibition
De Lautour / Greig / Hammond
2 February – 10 March 2013
An exciting opportunity to see new work by leading Canterbury artists Tony de Lautour, Jason Greig and Bill Hammond
Exhibition
Tony de Lautour: Unreal Estate
30 August – 5 October 2012
Painted on found pages from real estate publications, Unreal Estate, is an artist's book published by local artist Tony de Lautour and Christchurch Art Gallery.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to the winter 2018 edition of Bulletin—my first as director of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.
Interview
Driving Without a Licence
Peter Robinson: I may be wrong about this, but I believe that we were the last generation to experience the primacy of painting at art school. What I mean by this is that when we were at Ilam, students had to compete to get into departments. As crazy as it sounds now, there was a very clear hierarchy: painting was the most popular discipline and afforded the most esteem, sculpture second, then film, print, design and photography somewhere down the line. Can you remember why you ended up choosing sculpture? And furthermore why you ended up being a painter? Do you think your training as a sculptor affected the way you think about or approach painting that is different to someone who was trained formally as a painter?
My Favourite
Tony de Lautour's Underworld 2
Underworld 2 is a must-see. I know, I know. Everything is a must-see or a must-read or a must-do in this society of superlatives and imperatives. But you really do need to be in the same room as this work. Underworld 2 is immense. You need to be in front of it—to be immersed, to be overwhelmed, to be confronted. I start at the left-hand side and plot my journey as if I am planning a road trip and this is my map; first south around the mountains, turn left, then keep going until you pass a lion on the right-hand side. Stop and take in the scenery, go down a dead-end road or two. There’s no rush. You’ll know when you’re there.
Interview
Silent Patterns
When we asked Tony de Lautour to produce a new work for the Bunker—the name Gallery staff give to the small, square elevator building at the front of the forecourt on Montreal Street—he proposed a paint scheme inspired by Dazzle camouflage. Associated with the geometric near-abstraction of the vorticist movement, Dazzle was developed by British and American artists during the First World War to disguise shipping. It was a monumental form of camouflage that aimed not to hide the ship but to break up its mass visually and confuse enemies about its speed and direction. In a time before radar and sonar were developed, Dazzle was designed to disorientate German U-boat commanders looking through their periscopes, and protect the merchant fleets.
Senior curator Lara Strongman spoke with Tony de Lautour in late January 2016.
Article
A miscellany of observable illustrations
Romantic notions of gothic leanings, the legacy of Tony Fomison, devotion to rock sub-genres and an eye to the past are familiar and sound reasons to group Tony de Lautour, Jason Greig and Bill Hammond together in one exhibition, but De Lautour / Greig / Hammond is to feature new and recent work. Could all this change? What nuances will be developed or abandoned? Will rich veins be further mined? We can only speculate and accept that even the artists concerned can't answer these questions. For the artist, every work is a new endeavour, a new beginning. What may appear to the public, the critic or the art historian as a smooth, seamless flow of images is for them an unpredictable process where the only boundaries are those that they choose to invent.
Notes
Countdown to Fifteen
Fifteen is our birthday party (guess how old we are…) and it’s less than two weeks away! It’s also the opening event for Tony de Lautour’s US V THEM, which is our big winter exhibition. We asked curator Peter Vangioni and visitor programmes coordinator Amy Marr what they’re most excited about in the incredible line-up for this grand birthday bash.