Nature Enter Me

Nature Enter Me

The six artists’work in The Secret Life of Plants explores the natural world. Regan Gentry’s work Oh dear (2006) was conceived as part of Southland’s William Hodges fellowship, a four month artist residency. Here he conducted a witty, beautiful investigation into the material and associative qualities of gorse plants.

The mounted antlers of Oh dear are made entirely from gorse wood and offer an intriguing taster to a larger series of gorse based works that will be exhibited in a solo show at the New Dowse later this year. Gentry’s recent group exhibitions include Islanded: Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, 2006 and Super Natural, The Physics Room, Christchurch, 2006.

Courtney Lucas’s commanding photograph Cave (2006) both seduces and evokes a sense of uncanny unrest. This photograph, taken in Wanganui’s indoor Winter Gardens, depicts a ferrocrete tunnel surrounded by lush, flowering plants. It is an everyday scene abstracted from its usual context, rendered unusual and compelling. Lucas, imminently relocating to London, has appeared in group exhibitions one god no masters, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington in 2006 and Gang Green, Wellington in 2007.

Bruce Phillips’ delicate watercolour drawings depict plants sprouting from techno-gadgets. In one we see an opium poppy, and in the other magic mushrooms. Phillips has been a finalist in the 2005 and 2006 National Contemporary Art Awards and the 2005 and 2006 Wallace Art Awards.

Justine Walker is interested in idealised forms of beauty. In Phalaenopsis, Hybrid, City Girl 3 (2006) Walker has photographed in crisp and acute detail an extreme close-up of an orchid, drawing on the reputation of orchids as highly prized symbols of perfection. Walker’s untitled (butterfly) (2006) is another surreally enlarged object. Like flowers, butterflies are often used to represent fragility, beauty and transience.

Catherine Bagnall and Julian Bishop’s video work Nightwalking the Rockburn (2005) was inspired by Fiordland’s native bush and discoveries within a small, dark hut en route.

The Secret Life of Plants
Michael Hirschfeld Gallery, City Gallery Wellington
23 March - 22 April 2007
www.citygallery.org.nz

Michael Hirschfeld Gallery is proudly sponsored by DesignWorks Enterprise IG. Thanks also to Resolution Print, Colourcraft; and Publication and Design, Wellington City Council.

ENDS

© Scoop Media