Where are the artists this season? In the following galleries of course! Enjoy this May’s round up of visual and intellectual ambrosia for The Art of May.
6 – 22 May
Mercury Plaza
Birds of a Feather
Kairau ‘Hazer’ Bradley & Manawa Tapu
Manawa Tapu (Tristan Marler) is of Te Rarawa descent. He is trained in traditional wood carving and specialises in tā moko. In this exhibition he presents his Lovebirds series – an exploration of erotica through the use of kōwhaiwhai patterns. Hazer (Kairau Bradley) is a post graffiti artist of Ngā Puhi descent. The figurative birds in Hazer’s work are a reflection of his ancestral heritage, a symbol of his tūpuna and a gateway between this world and the afterlife. Birds of a Feather reflects the common ground Tapu and Hazer have found through their interests, beliefs and explorations around their Māoritanga, honouring it through highly stylised visual expression.
6 May – 3 June
Studio One
Ambient Plasticity
Brendan Moran
Faces of Cairo
Ilan Wittenberg
Inspired by occurrences of phenomenological strangeness drawn from scientific and philosophical ideas, Moran uses painting as a site to explore material and metaphysical propositions. Wittenberg specialises in documentary street photography full of emotion. This exhibition takes you on a tour of the Cairo and its people, in his signature style of timeless monochrome. Awarded Auckland Photographer of the Year 2020, it’s well worth a visit.
On until 15 May
Artspace
Sovereign Pacific / Pacific Sovereigns
Rangituhia Hollis, Ana Iti, Alex Monteith, Sione Monu, Gary Ross Pastrana
Curated by David The, each artist was given two concepts as prompts from which to create a new work for this series of digital works. The first idea, Pacific Concretism, sought to explore ‘errant modernisms’ – artworks at junctions between traditional forms of visual art and other forms such as experimental literature. A second idea, Sovereignty, asks; what would a Sovereign Pacific artwork look like outside of traditional western ideas of influence and form. Well worth checking out with an excellent selection of emerging and established digital artists.
13 – 15 May
Monster Valley
Out of Shape
Paul Darragh
Paul Darragh is a painter based in Mt. Maunganui. He works with acrylic, house paint, spray paint and airbrush techniques, using flat colour and distorted pattern to manipulate depth on medium to large format canvas. Out Of Shape is a response to a recent injury suffered by the artist and the emotional and physical process of recovery. In this series the artist focuses on muscles and bones in their skeletal context and how they fit and rely on each other within the body.
15 May – 9 June
OrexArt
The Kitchen’s Secrets
Stephen Allwood
Paul Darragh is a painter based in Mt. Maunganui. He works with acrylic, house paint, spray paint and airbrush techniques, using flat colour and distorted pattern to manipulate depth on medium to large format canvas. Out Of Shape is a response to a recent injury suffered by the artist and the emotional and physical process of recovery. In this series the artist focuses on muscles and bones in their skeletal context and how they fit and rely on each other within the body.
On until 22 May
Michael Lett
Bluets
Richard Frater & Pauline Rhode
Bluets presents work by Berlin-based Richard Frater and Canterbury-based Pauline Rhodes. The exhibition is a duet that addresses concerns with intricate, material entanglements between the human and non-human as well as built and natural environments.
