A new exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery explores the prevalence of mysticism in contemporary art and its potential to shift the existing relationship of art to life.

Olivia Plender
The Medium & Daybreak, 2005
mixed-media installation, courtesy of the artist - View Large

Seventeen international artists draw upon mystic realities either through re-performing historic spiritualism, activating contemporary superstition, recreating mystic tools and iconography and documenting belief in other worlds and speculative realities.

Thomas Zipp
Black Tears, 2005
mixed-media on paper, framed, courtesy Galerie Guido W. Baudach
photo: Roman März - View Large

Both the artists and viewer's standpoint are positioned in the uncertain middle-ground between belief and cynicism.

David Hatcher
Semantic Bliss, 2007
mixed -media installation
courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite, Auckland
photo: Bryan James, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery - View Large

The title Mystic Truths extracts the oxymoron embedded in Bruce Nauman's 1967 neon sign "the true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths".

Bruce Nauman
Window or Wall Sign, 1967
© Bruce Nauman, licensed by VISCOPY Australia 2007
collection of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
courtesy of the artist and National Gallery of Australia, Canberra - View Large

Nauman's words declare a role for the artist that sits uneasily within contemporary art and life in the West - that mysticism is not only alive and real, but also necessary.

Loris Gréaud
Topsy, 2006
(featuring Karl Holmqvist)
silicon mould, black pigment, modified speaker, cd player and audio file
courtesy of the artist and Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris and New York - View Large

Curator Natasha Conland calls upon the catch-phrase 'mind over matter' to suggest the artists' interest in the powers of the mind as a change-agent in the physical realm of art and exhibition.

David Hatcher
Oedipal Manoeuvres in the Dark, 2004
fluorescent pigment and acrylic paint on walls
installation view, Müllerdechiara, Berlin, 2005
photo: Ludger Paffrath - View Large

She uses the metaphor of 'the curse' as an alternative lens from which to view the relationship between concept and form. Freed from cynical or superstitious association, a curse is merely an idea. Add belief to this idea, and it has the power to affect change.

Jennifer Tee
Sao Paolo Biennale, 2004
performance - View Large

The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue and programme including talks, films and events including an opening weekend performance by UK artist Olivia Plender.

Mikala Dwyer
Superstitious Scaffolding, 2006 (installation view)
mixed-media installation
courtesy the artist, private collection, Wellington
and Hamish McKay Gallery- View Large

This fresh generation of artists has renewed the search for abstract truths. Their works play on the tension between our desire to experience the unknown and our inherent scepticism.

Omer Fast
Godville, 2005 (still)
two-channel digital video
courtesy of the artist and GB Agency, Paris - View Large

Mystic Truths features three New Zealand artists - Liz Maw, Dane Mitchell and David Hatcher - and is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue and events programme. Don't miss the opening weekend performance by Olivia Plender, a rising star of the British art scene.

ENDS

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