Wednesday 29 October 2008

See Rita Angus online

Te Papa has curated a huge touring show of Rita Angus' work from their collection, which is currently in Dunedin, and will move on to Christchurch and Auckland during 2009. To promote the exhibition they have extensive material online here, with high-resolution zoomable reproductions and commentary provided.

This is such an amazing resource on one of New Zealand's foremost painters. Have a look!

Wednesday 22 October 2008

Gardens Sculptures



And does anyone have any idea who made these? I came upon them in the Christchuch Botanic Gardens, and they don't seem to have any signs telling you where they came from. They are awesome, anyhow.

Botanic Gardens - Amazing!




If you haven't been to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens lately, you really should, they are looking amazing! Flowers are popping out all over, and everything looks lush and abundant.

Saturday 18 October 2008

New Tim Main show

Tim Main is opening an exciting new show of sculptural works at the Milford Gallery in Auckland on November 5th. His recent works are elegant combinations of Gothic architectural forms and New Zealand native plants. Read all about the show here.

Russell Moses: Garden of Light

The Dunedin Public Art Gallery has a brilliant Russell Moses show. Moses' works are paintings, sculptures, and fascinating hybrids of painting and sculpture. In one of my favourite pieces he has made a string of giant clay beads in the shape of a stellar constellation, to hang over a painted clay ground. Stars made of earth: I love it!

Other works reference mining, with patterns of metallic pigment emerging from a clay ground; Green paintings mimic the markings of pounamu, but also of light on water or trees in a landscape. Cross motifs in his work refer to measurement and surveying, the carving up and carving out of the land; the patterns he makes also evoke natural shifts and processes: night and day, movement of the sun and stars, seasons, growth and erosion.

You can see more examples of his beautiful work here.

Gecko glue

This fascinating story tells about a new dry adhesive that mimics the way geckoes hold themselves on walls and ceilings.