Tāmaki Makaurau is bursting at the seams with vibrant and divine art this February. Despite the Red Light restrictions, all systems are go, go, go to the gallery! Here’s a curation of exhibitions throughout the isthmus, so you can enjoy an art respite without venturing too far from home.
Foenander Galleries
Lost Pages
10 Feb – 8 March
455 Mt Eden Road, Mt Eden
Thomas Pound and Roger Mortimer are exhibiting Lost Pages at Foenander Galleries. A collaborative project, the show combines the found object assemblages of Pound, with the ethereal illustrative paintings of Mortimer, creating an empowered, immersive experience within the gallery space.
Masterworks
Iro-Shino Oribe by Aaron Scythe
19 Feb – 19 March
71 Upper Queen Street, Newton
Aaron Scythe’s new work for Iro-Shino Oribe is a resurrection of precious styles learnt over the years of his extensive practice whilst working and living in Japan. His ceramics are a culmination of ideas that are integral to his practice, exploring motif and symbology as they are embedded within traditional form and technique.
“I have always been deeply involved with traditional Japanese ceramics, especially the Mino area in Japan. The forms, decoration traditions and glazes (Oribe, Shino, Kizeto and Setoguro). This exploration is more a movement towards a refinement of my view on the beauty within the framework of ceramics that I have been working on in my view on the beauty within the framework of ceramics that I have been working on in my life.“ – Aaron Scythe, exhibiting at Masterworks. Feb 19–March 19.
Artspace Aotearoa
New Artists Programme
Until 19 Feb
292 Karangahape Road, Auckland
This year’s Artspace Aotearoa’s New Artists Programme features: †sAPEXALTERNATIVECONCUBINE, Connor Fitzgerald, Priscilla Rose Howe, Xi Li, Ming Ranginui, Obadiah Russon, and Anto Yeldezian.
The show is loosely structured around the themes resonant in Lauren Berlant’s seminal book Cruel Optimism (2011), who is said to have defined the fields of affect theory, heteronormativity and queer theory.
Fresh Gallery Otara
Tau Atu Et
12 Feb – 2 March
Shop 5, 46 Fair Mall, Otara
Bethany Matai Edmunds (Ngāti Kurī/Māori Pohotiare/Ngātī Kurī/Māori) is a fibre sculptor who re-imagines tūpuna kōrero (ancestral stories) to articulate Māori urban perspectives and retain ngā taonga tuku iho (the skills passed down from ancestors) for future generations.
Tau Atu e! is a solo exhibition that materialises the artist’s journey by following the flight path of the kuaka and activates the artist to her iwi of Ngāti Kurī.
Michael Lett
Desert Flowers & Wet Contact
25 Feb – 5 April
312B Karangahape Road
Two artists exhibit in two standalone shows this month at Michael Lett, New York-based artist Paul Lee will be showing new works in Desert Flowers and Tāmaki Makaurau-based artist Anoushka Akel will be showing new paintings in Wet Contact.
Two Rooms
An Invitation To Dance – Ann Shelton
Until 5 March
16 Putiki Street, Newton
This month Two Rooms is exhibiting the saturated floral photography of Ann Shelton. This series is a tribute to Lola Montez, an infamous artiste who visited Australia during its gold rush to dance – and posed for the earliest known publicity photograph of a woman smoking.
