Archives: Exhibitions

Congratulations to Alistair McDonald
‘In The Style of Hiroshige’ is a sell out exhibition.

Coming January 29th 2022 ‘In The Style of Hiroshige – the Australian works’

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

‘I got hooked on the ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) style through an exhibition of Ando Hiroshige’s fans at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London – bold flat expressive colours, clean line drawings and stories of another era and culture. I have tried to imagine how Hiroshige (1797-1858) and his contemporary Hokusai may have shown views of modern Wellington, Auckland, Queenstown, Wanaka, Sydney, Melbourne and Taranaki if they were alive today’. – Alistair McDonald

Mathew Snowden

Selected works still on show.

Born in Heswall, Merseyside in 1969, Matthew has been a full time professional artist for over 25 years.

He studied at Withens Lane Art College in 1989 followed by Industrial Design (BA Hons) at Teesside University, 1990 -93.

His bold paintings executed exclusively with a palette knife in impasto acrylic have attracted a wide following amongst art collectors in Europe.

Introducing Julia White

Now Showing

Exhibitions Gallery, 20 Brandon Street, Wellington

Exhibitions Gallery Pop-Up Featuring George Loizou

76 Mercer Street, Wellington (cnr Mercer and Willis)

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Phone: 021 062 2072

Hours: by appointment

“I am a ‘70’s’ baby, born and raised in Wellington, with a Greek Cypriot/Lebanese background, and like many New Zealanders’, have travelled extensively.

As soon as I was able to hold a pencil, I would draw, and at the age of four, I was drawing cars in 3D.  Since completing a Graphic Design course at Wellington Polytechnic/Victoria University, I have spent numerous years in the design industry but have recently come to a stage where I would prefer to create for myself.

Although all of my individual works share common aspects, I strive for each piece to express different feelings and often employ different techniques.  Through the process of building up layers and decisions around composition, the creative force stays within themes grounded in ideas of mortality and isolation. Primarily ‘moody’, each creation is dark, but also, in some way, optimistic!

Produced on specially imported polyester canvas material with a solvent-based ink, each piece takes two weeks to dry, due to the richness of the blacks”.

We are pleased to invite you to view Peter Hackett’s 2020 exhibition.

Venue: Exhibitions Gallery of Fine Art, 20 Brandon Street, Wellington

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Phone 04 499 6356 or Ron 021 062 2072

“From a very young age I pursued a career in the fine arts, specialising in drawing and painting in every school I attended during my formative years.”

After leaving the compulsory constraints of high school art classes I travelled to Paris, France earning a scholarship in sculpture, painting, printmaking and life drawing whilst studying under some of the most respected names in the Parisian art world such as Camillo Otero and Susanne Runacher. The sweet taste of student life in a liberal art school like The Paris American Academy became the catalyst to the unrestrained experimentation evident in my work for the next ten years.

From 1990 to the turn of the century the experimentation gave way to a recognisable style and a preoccupation with extending my technical range instead of pursuing a narrative. I seek to establish a dominant theme to my work, concentrating my efforts on maturing the subject matter and technique without surrendering to the influences of social trends.

“I have been a finalist in several major art awards including the Air New Zealand Art Award, The Nola Holmwood Memorial Portrait Prize, The Eider Este Art Award and have also received a silver medal in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. My predominantly large works have been exhibited in France, America, Australia, and New Zealand with consistent public interest and I have been rewarded with a faithful customer base.”

Tony O’Keefe: ‘The Life of Normals’

Selected work still on show

Exhibitions Gallery, 20A Brandon Street, Wellington CBD

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Phone (04) 499 6356 or Ron 021 0622072

Tony O’Keefe’s latest series is essentially a study of the perpendicular. The Life of Normals looks at the values, forms and rituals that derive from the special distinction of being upright.
Presented as a set of evocative vertical tableaux the collection balances figurative and abstract elements to portray apparently familiar events. Knowing that the viewer will inevitably see themselves in these scenes
O’Keefe introduces ambiguous and disruptive volumes which challenge us to rethink this perception. Is every tower necessarily an abode? Is that really just a briefcase?

In the course of the design and creation of each artwork O’Keefe simultaneously develops a complex milieu of ideas, symbols and references. This narrative is continuously drawn back into the sculpture influencing its final expression. “I regard the completed sculpture and its syndetic story as the same piece of art,” says O’Keefe. His art frequently alludes to Christian tradition, historical events, social and ideological commentary.

Working from his zero waste studio on an organic estate near Queenstown, O’Keefe enjoys both the company of farm animals and the intensely private world of arc welding. Describing his medium of steel as
obstinate’ he wrests remarkable character from the material. The apparent conformity of his population hides the fact that each figure is unique. Created individually at the artist’s hand by the violent and random
forces of high voltage and molten steel.

Insisting that art is a mutual, multi-sensory experience O’Keefe invites people to enjoy the tactile dimensions to his sculpture and says that, unlike most exhibitions, the message here is: “Please Touch the Art”.

Artists in Lockdown – The Exhibition

Due to the immense interest and response to the ‘Artists in Lockdown’ social media series, we are excited to follow up with an exhibition born from this unprecedented period of our lives. The exhibition includes supporting material alongside the artworks and a full catalogue.

The artwork and the artist’s feelings, reflected that of many of us, and the resulting body of work is a celebration of the resilience and fortitude of the ‘team of 5 million’. In the end, an endearing optimism echoes the underlying strength that permeates our collective Kiwi psyche.

Exhibitions Gallery, 20 Brandon Street, Wellington

Phone 04 499 6356 or Ron 021 0622072

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Sally Barron – ‘Postcards From The Edge’

Selected work still on show

Still life: “It has been said that a truly engaged painting practice is one that is involved in the attempt to describe the world as one finds it.
During the isolation and contemplation of lockdown I found myself drawn to the genre of Still life, with the pull and push of gesture and freedom just out of reach.
Still life is a centuries old tradition and as I make my pictures, I am aware that I see through prisms of pre-existing images. Close observation and solidarity of the objects co-exist with loose abstraction of swirls of paint living alongside.
Possibly there is something within me that is resisting the slow evocation of domestic detail and is yearning for a more expansive flourish of uninhibited creation. That containment with a hint of drama is what interests me.”

Landscape: Using  vivid colours and gestural techniques influenced by post-impressionists such as Bonnard and Matisse, as well as strong abstract elements from artists like Rauschenberg and Diebenkorn. She is inspired by the local scenery and stories, artists and memories from the past and future. Sally works almost exclusively in oils, with key themes exploring our relationship with memory and the environment, balancing figuration with the abstract.

Exhibitions Gallery, 20 Brandon Street, Wellington.  Phone 04 4996356

ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Alicja Gear’s ‘Catchpool’

These serene works open spaces of quiet contemplation.

They are grounded in nature where you can almost hear the leaves moving and the water chattering.  On closer inspection the brushwork in these pieces are loose and expressive. The medium itself is exploited through the layering of paint and the marks themselves. The layers of paint are varied and built up with strong colours that eventually give way to the softer tones of nature, just hinting at what lies beneath. The individual brush marks are varied in weight and importance, thus creating movement and giving life to these scenes.

This is the first series of Alicja’s work to explore the Catchpool valley in the Remutaka’s. The valley is rich with inspiration with a river, nikau grove and mature podocarp/broadlead forest.

Alicja paints in her studio in Plimmerton between raising her three young children.

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz 

We are pleased to invite you to view George Loizou’s exhibition.

Opening Wednesday 2nd December 5 – 7pm

Exhibitions Gallery, 20A Brandon Street, Wellington CBD

Phone (04) 499 6356

“I am a ‘70’s’ baby, born and raised in Wellington, with a Greek Cypriot/Lebanese background, and like many New Zealanders’, have travelled extensively.

As soon as I was able to hold a pencil, I would draw, and at the age of four, I was drawing cars in 3D.  Since completing a Graphic Design course at Wellington Polytechnic/Victoria University, I have spent numerous years in the design industry but have recently come to a stage where I would prefer to create for myself.

Although all of my individual works share common aspects, I strive for each piece to express different feelings and often employ different techniques.  Through the process of building up layers and decisions around composition, the creative force stays within themes grounded in ideas of mortality and isolation. Primarily ‘moody’, each creation is dark, but also, in some way, optimistic!

Produced on specially imported polyester canvas material with a solvent-based ink, each piece takes two weeks to dry, due to the richness of the blacks”.

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

We invite you to view a selection of artworks from Mervin Singham’s new book:

‘my covid-19 bubble NARRATIVES’

Exhibitions Gallery, 20A Brandon Street, Wellington CBD

enquiries:  ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Phone 04 499 6356

When the Covid-19 crisis became real for the world in March 2020, a close friend of mine shared her wisdom with me. She said while we might be devastated by the crisis, she likened the catastrophe to that of a volcanic eruption. She said, ‘volcanoes wreak havoc with their spectacular eruptions, but from the same fiery source come rich and incredibly fertile soils that set the world for rejuvenation and growth’. Her words were a great comfort.

Over the coming weeks, the crisis generated many thoughts and emotions that became the rich ‘soil’ for the spectrum of paintings I created in this book, often with my beloved dog, Bali in the studio with me.

Source: Forward to Mervin’s book ‘my covid-19 bubble’

Ron Hall Exhibition – Bee Waggle

20 A Brandon Street, Wellington 6011, Phone 04 499 6356 or Ron 021 062 2072

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

Artist Statement

My recycled beehive work is a reference to our NZ landscape.

The beehives have been in a specific NZ locality and climate and this has altered the painted surface. I quite often see this weathered surface in an abstract, poetical, musical way. The wooden hives, to me, are not simply a home of the bees but evoke various memories.  These memories are triggered by the wonderful honey smell, arrangement of the wooden pieces and of course the textures of the weathered painted surfaces.

The woods include macrocarpa, the traditional shelter tree with its strong smell;   the historic native wetland tree the kahikatia and the ubiquitous pine. All these types of woods add a cultural layer to my art work. The industry of beekeeping and the vital lives of our bees, also add another significant layer.

What really floats my waka is the wonderful textures of the painted, weathered, and repainted surfaces that challenge our idea of what painting is. How is it that such random painting carried out by apiary workers produce such unexpected beauty? – Ron Hall

We are pleased to invite you and your guests to view a selection of works from Kate Beatty.

Exhibitions Gallery, 20 Brandon Street, Wellington

phone 04 499 6356

Kate’s most recent body of work has been inspired by her research into Maori bird legends.

Her intention behind these paintings is to display the mana behind maori symbolism and NZ birds.

The depicted environment is made up of multiple lines and dots created from multiple viewpoints to create a vortex in which the birds and maori symbol connect to enhance the mana and meaning of Maori bird legend and symbolism.

Similar to Maori legends these depicted birds (Nga manu) are represented as messengers from the Gods of the heavens. The birds receive the mana and matauranga (wisdom) of the Koru (representing rebirth, growth and regeneration), Pikorua ( representing the path of life , loyalty and a symbol of a strong bond between two loved ones) and Matau (representing prosperity and safe travels over water) which is relayed back down to us on earth.

Kate has worked with the subject matter of NZ birds and flora since her studies back at the School of Fine Arts. She graduated in 2014 with a major in painting.

Kate also paints portraits of NZ birds within a wallpaper-esque background. These portraits are a depicted interpretation of the individual birds’ personality and characteristics.
Colour harmony and colour saturation is a great interest of Kates and she uses this in the way to exaggerate certain physical characteristics of the birds. She also plays with the colour harmony between the depicted bird and wallpaper-esque backdrop which unifies the work and creates an inviting aesthetic.

The flora patterning effect is layered in a way that Kate pushes some of the pattern into the background by painting over the image; some is painted into the mid-ground and then painted in more detail bringing it into the fore-ground. This gives a visual push pull effect which creates a complimentary yet uncanny environment in which the NZ bird/birds are posed.

enquiries: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz 

Brent Redding exhibition now showing

There is ample room in the gallery to view the exhibition while maintaining appropriate social distancing.

Although we are not having our usual exhibtion opening evenings at the moment, we are more than happy to be available for groups of 10 or less, wishing to view the work outside of our normal trading hours.

To make a booking email: ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

or phone Ron (021) 062 207

Venue: Exhibitions Gallery of Fine Art,  20 Brandon Street, Wellington 6011

I have always painted in more than one style, reflecting a broad set of reasons for picking up the brush. These vary from a desire to capture the colour and light of the world around me, to interests in pattern and design, sequences, capturing movement, and occasionally making social comment. This variety of objectives, combined with variation of medium and technique, has created quite an eclectic body of work. I also teach painting, and years of analysing and solving painting problems of students seems to have extended my own interests and capabilities, further encouraging this eclecticism.

We are pleased to invite you to view Kevin Dunkley’s exhibition, ‘Country Comfort’

Enquiries: auckland@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz 

Venue: Exhibitions Gallery of Fine Art.

Exhibition available to view from Wednesday 2nd Sept 10.30 am

Address: 19A Osborne Street, Newmarket, Auckland

phone Ngaire (09) 5235560

Kevin’s retro subconscious trips back to his childhood, via his landscape paintings have taken on a fluency that reflects the accumulative years of dedication to paint.

Despite sell out exhibitions, Kevin remains grounded “I started out not having a clue what to do or how to do it, but by experimenting I have found a style I enjoy and I have become part of my paintings.”

Still non-specific; they are evocations of a mood rather than true recordings. Reminded of a place (or time) viewers often feel a very strong and personal connection to specific paintings.