Grant Lingard

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1961, d.1995

The Collector of Beauty: The Discerning Eye

  • 1991
  • Mixed media
  • Gift of Blair Jackson and Kim Macintosh, 2021
  • 330 x 250mm
  • 2021/184.a-c

Presented like a trophy for our enjoyment and inspection, the tin butterfly trapped in this large glass jar suggests the ephemerality of attraction; what was once natural, captivating and beautiful soon begins to fade when deprived of its freedom. Above it, in a panel painted with shimmering blue eye shadow, another kind of beauty – synthetic and superficial, but perhaps equally seductive – is preserved .

Exhibition History

earlier labels about this work
  • Presented like a trophy for our enjoyment and inspection, the tin butterfly trapped in this large glass jar suggests the ephemerality of attraction; what was once natural, captivating and beautiful soon begins to fade when deprived of its freedom. Above it, in a panel painted with shimmering blue eye shadow, another kind of beauty – synthetic and superficial, but perhaps equally seductive – is preserved.