Solo 32: 26 November–11 December, NZ Academy of Fine Arts

Solo 32: 26 November–11 December, NZ Academy of Fine Arts

Solo 32 is one of two exhibitions the NZ Academy of Fine Arts runs twice every year to present some of their best and most promising New Zealand artists. It opens at Academy Galleries on Queens Wharf on the 26th of November and runs until the 11th of December.

Wellington-based artist Patricia Armour has reinvented the age-old art of weaving with her series of contemporary hand-made tapestries. They hang like paintings, while they combine thousands of threads the artist has drawn together over hundreds of hours at her loom. They weave her version of the Greek myth of Psyche and explore the moth as a symbol of the soul. Part of a small world-wide contemporary textile movement, Patricia’s works are sold alongside those of big-name artists in New York.

Kapiti Coast-based artist, Greg Chaston has been a finalist in a number of highly-contested national art competitions. In Solo 32, he is presenting a series entitled Walk the Line. In these paintings intricately drawn grids in graphite become the armature of his paintings and almost-hidden strings of words. With these works, he is combining writing, drawing and painting, and exploring the constructs that restrict our lives and the ways in which we seek our personal freedom.

A winner of the Adam Portrait Award, Kapiti Coast artist Harriet Bright creates drawings and paintings that quietly pack a punch. As a young student, she studied fine arts in London but soon became entirely disillusioned with the art world. On later coming to New Zealand and raising a family, she returned to her love of drawing and became known for her portraits of vulnerable yet brave women and the full craziness of family life. Her drawings show people honestly stripped bare, but bearing up.

Showcasing the best of contemporary jewellery, leading Wellington-based designer and artisan Alison Blain will be making a show of jade and gold, as well as exquisite antique buttons. And rounding out the exhibition, newcomer Noeline Thomson will be bringing contemporary photography into the gallery. Her colourful, abstract and surprisingly painterly vignettes capture the afternoon sun playing on the sand and water of Wellington’s Shelly and Kau Bays.

The NZ Academy of Fine Arts has been presenting and selling the work of New Zealand artists since 1882.

Academy Galleries, on the waterfront near the TSB Bank Arena. 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington. Phone (04) 499 8807. www.nzafa.com

ENDS

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