FEBRUARY 2012:

John Lyall ‘VANISHING POINT ONE, VANISHING POINT TWO’, 2002
Drawings on Micaground and black gesso on paper. (oil stick, oil pastel, pencil, paint marker & graphite), 66 x 100.5 cm

In 2002, John Lyall exhibited his suite of drawings entitled "A Moa, A Math, A Mount". The title of the exhibition referred to a series of words, a sequence, also a pun for those trained in Latin to solve.

MOA - Lyall has had a long interest in adoption and adaptation. He himself is an expatriate. An Australian now living and working in New Zealand. He says, "here in the Southern Hemisphere we have great flightless birds: - Moas, Emus, Ostriches. Some extinct, others not. In the act of coming to NZ I came to a place where some birds walk and the only endemic land mammals fly. I came by jumbo! The lost Moa is a lost voice., that through our acceptance of loss we sometimes make the lost iconic. The Moa has become an icon, the extinct fauna as a valorised gap".

MATHS - Nigel Clark wrote, "John Lyall's three-dimensional renditions of mathematical equations explore (the) interface between the scientific and aesthetic realms. The equation, which conventionally inhabits an imaginary two-dimensional space - the epitome of scientific abstraction - has been given substance, and in the process has been drawn into the space once reserved for aesthetic expression."

Lyall notes, "lots of people think Maths is difficult and ugly and that we widely misuse it. I am talking about a history of an engagement with mathematical curves & beauty. The circle is the dominant curve, the default curve, a dumb curve. This body of work deals with some really elegant curves." Lyall himself has constructed equations in picket fencing and demolition wood.

MOUNT - "Mountains" - John says, "read the book!" The coffee table rendition of our beautiful country. "A country which constructs its corporate marketing as "100% pure NZ" (yes it is a set of postage stamps as well), and we have that legend Sir Edmund Hillary. So it is construction - this is to appeal to adventure tourists & eco-tourists. Constructing National Identity for the external consumer rather than the citizen."

To understand his work is perhaps as curator Allan Smith has written, "The understanding of the shifting antipodean position is implicit in (Lyall's) work "

A strong body of work, a selection of which was acquired by Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington for their collection.

: JANUARY 2012

In the early 1950's Jan Nigro returned to New Zealand after what can be only described as both successful and important years for the young artist in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. In Australia she had been invited to join the leading contemporary art societies and the National Gallery of Victoria acquired her work for their collection.

Returning with her husband, Gerry and young son, they moved to Rotorua and settled in the Nigro family bach at Kawaha Point. The bach would be home for the young couple until they could afford to build their own. Nigro had three further children whilst in Rotorua, and acknowledges she missed the "painting life in Melbourne." Nigro though has always been a determined woman and set about to continue her art practice. She records in her autobiography that "The Daily Post reported that there was a local art society, newly established by Dr Stanley Wallis, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital". Here she met and became long term friends with Jessie Lewis, Zoe Ireland, both of whom had studied at Elam and also Melvin Day and his wife Oroya.

Nigro and Ireland were both active members of the Rotorua Art Society, organising events and exhibitions. They would also team up on the weekends to go painting . ".....we scrambled, laden with art materials, over the thermal landscape of Rotorua, disappearing into fault lines. .."

These two stunning watercolours date from this time and illustrate Nigro's confident ability with their broad strokes that capture the forms and her assured choice of colour.

Rare examples of abstract work in Nigro's oeuvre- they are well worth viewing.

: DECEMBER 2011

PAUL CULLEN - RULER WORKS 1997 - 2005

My art practice is located in a strategy of fabricational ploys directed, principally, towards physical, sculptural outcomes, ranging discursively across drawing, object making and installation. Research informing my projects encompasses such concerns as site, models, diagrams, science and gardens. - Paul Cullen.

One Metre 1997 is a suite of small table top or wall works developed literally from one metre rulers. In 1998 they developed into Building Sculptures, small wall mounted works. By 2004 they had morphed into Untitled Rulers. The exploration of the form continues but Cullen now maintains the measurement structure of 0 - 100 cm. The more recent variation of his ruler works are the Ruler Reductions, where the rule is now penetrated by holes.

These small yet complex sculptures which operate on many levels are both playful and provocative.

Available as individual works, priced from $350 each.
They also work well clustered in a group.

Click here for more information about Paul Cullen.