B.187
ISBN: 1176-0540
Magazine
In this issue of Bulletin we feature an interview with London-based artist Francis Upritchard, who is interviewed by fellow Ilam graduate Tessa Giblin, recently appointed director of the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh. We also hear from artist Shannon Te Ao, winner of the 2016 Walters Prize, who talks to friend, fellow Walters Prize nominee and assistant curator Nathan Pohio. It’s a great introduction to the artist’s work.
Felicity Milburn looks at the ironic, self-deprecating humour that buoys Wayne Youle’s work – from provocative early works through to his huge Sydenham mural, I seem to have temporarily misplaced my sense of humour (2011) and the wry references to self-doubt found in ALONE TIME (2014). Curator Peter Vangioni explores the wonderful relief constructions of the late Don Peebles from the 1960s and 1970s. And curator Ken Hall uses his exhibition He Waka Eke Noa as a starting point to tell stories that show some of the complexity of a hitherto unprecedented movement of people.
Director Jenny Harper writes about her long association with Bridget Riley as a welcome for the Gallery’s new commission from the artist to mark our lengthy time of closure following the Canterbury earthquakes.
Pagework is a wonderfully odd work from James Oram, our Postcard comes from Emilie Sitzia in Maastricht, and My Favourite from Valerie Muir, widow of the first professional director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Brian Muir (1943–1989).
Pages: 64
Dimensions: 265 x 215mm
Imprint: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
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Related
Exhibition
Bridget Riley: Cosmos
12 November 2017
A new wall painting for Christchurch by internationally acclaimed English artist, Bridget Riley.
Exhibition
Don Peebles: Relief Constructions
3 September 2017
Calm, enigmatic and elegant works of art by Don Peebles.
Exhibition
Shannon Te Ao: Tā“nei Ao Kawa Nei
23 July 2017
Tenderness and human longing are revealed in Shannon Te Ao’s award-winning video installations.
Exhibition
Wayne Youle: Look Mum No Hands
3 September 2017
Full to the brim with high energy, sharp-witted artmaking
Exhibition
He Waka Eke Noa
18 February 2018
Colonial-era portraits represent a legacy that illuminates the present.
Director's Foreword
Director's Foreword
Welcome to 2017! We’ve all bounced back to work at our favourite gallery – and we’ve loved seeing a range of familiar faces at our exhibitions and events as well as the many new visitors enjoying what we have on display.
Commentary
Such Human Tide
The exhibition He Waka Eke Noa brings together colonial-era, mainly Māori, portraiture alongside objects linked to colonisation – it’s a predictably uncomfortable mix. While the degree of discomfort may depend on one’s background or degree of connection to an enduringly difficult past, objects related to emigration and colonisation can be a useful lenses. As relics from a specific period in global history, when the movement of (particularly) European people was happening at an unprecedented scale, they hold stories with a measure of complexity that obliges an open-minded reading. There is no denying that they speak of losses and gains, of injustices and rewards.
Interview
A Torch and a Light
Shannon Te Ao is an artist of Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent. In 2016 Te Ao won the Walters Prize for his works, two shoots that stretch far out (2013–14) and okea ururoatia (never say die) (2016). Working in video and other performative practices Te Ao investigates the implications of various social and linguistic modes. Assistant curator Nathan Pohio, himself a nominee for the 2016 Walters Prize, discussed working practice with Te Ao in December 2016.
Artist Profile
Wayne Youle: Look Mum No Hands
He’s been called a cultural prankster, an agent provocateur and a bullshit artist (that last description came from his dad, but it was bestowed – he’s pretty sure – with love). While we’re at it, add ‘serial pun merchant’ to that list; in art, as in conversation, Wayne Youle can spot a good one-liner a mile off and has never knowingly left an entendre undoubled.
Commentary
Anticipation and Reflection
This is a time of considerable anticipation at the Gallery: Bridget Riley’s new work for Christchurch is due for completion in late May 2017. A wall painting, it’s the fourth of five significant works chosen to mark the long years of our closure for seismic strengthening following the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010–11. It has been paid for, sight unseen, by a group of wonderful women donors, with further support for costs associated with its installation secured by auction at our Foundation’s 2016 gala dinner.
Interview
The Borrowings of Francis Upritchard
Arriving at the studio and home of Francis Upritchard on a Tuesday morning in East London, you’d hardly know she was opening a solo booth at Frieze Art Fair later that day, launching a fashion collaboration with Peter Pilotto the following day, and juggling studio visits and interviews throughout London’s hectic art-focused week. She’s the picture of tranquillity. The calm doesn’t last long though, as discussions of Christchurch’s rebuild, the Christchurch Art Gallery, our friends and memories are quickly interrupted by an escalating flurry of visitors and family dropping by and couriers collecting objects, packing crates, dropping off documents.
Postcard From...
Postcard From...
Dear Christchurch,
I hope you are doing better and healing, slowly but surely. It has been four years since I moved to Maastricht and life here is pretty good. I am now director of the Master Arts and Heritage at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands (an exciting international and interdisciplinary programme).
Artist Profile
Don Peebles: A Free Sense of Order
There’s a wonderful film on Don Peebles in the Gallery’s archive that provides a fascinating insight into the artist’s practice. Produced around 1980, it shows Peebles working in his studio and walking through his garden, past the fruit trees to his shed down the back, with an audio interview overdubbed. My favourite scene shows the artist in the shed with a box full of various wooden shapes that he has collected over the years, which he takes out and loosely assembles on a small sheet of plywood – a free sense of order created out of these seemingly random pieces.
Notes
Award wins!
We’re delighted to announce that Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū has won a number of accolades at the 21st Museums Australasia Multimedia & Publication Design Awards. The prestigious annual awards celebrate excellence in the Australasian museum sector and were presented on Tuesday evening during a gala dinner in Melbourne.