 |
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||
| ...GALLERY EXHIBIT 2002 | |
|
|
...HARD SELL!! because you want it |
|
||||
|
Juan Rubén Reyes, Douglas Kelaher, Mark Harvey, Susan Ballard, Hannah and Aaron Beehre, Georgiana Morison, Katharina Jaeger, Kathleen Peacock Everyone wants to sell you something, and here's our pitch. Unlike other shows profiling new and (post) emergent artists, this series contains no thematic alibi or curatorial catchphrases to disguise what we're really saying: we just think these people are some of the best new artists around! Despite this, discernable links can be found across their practices, most obviously in the way these artists reposition and re-present images and objects from everyday cultural events, creating elaborate and loving simulations and reconstructions of the 'real'. Craftsmanship and manipulation is important to the Hard Sell artists, whose playful but careful creations draw on both the skills of the artisan, and the 'pick n mix' mentality of the contemporary consumer, from the manufactured world of commerce, to the ether world of cyberspace, to the organics of flora and fauna. Following on from our 2000 - 2001 series Fresh, which showcased groupings of solo projects by New Zealand based artists who were reaching a certain stage in their careers, Hard Sell is a series of individual projects based in Gallery C throughout most of 2002. Stemming from our aim to assist the development of those artists whose careers can be termed 'post emergent', who have shown extensively at an artist run and student based level, and are starting to move into the commercial and public arenas, Hard Sell offers the financial and curatorial support for these artists to produce a substantial solo body of work Purchase the HARDSELL!! catalogue Juan Rubén Reyes 27 February - 28 March 2002 Auckland based artist Juan Rubén Reyes has shown at Fiat Lux, Ramp Gallery, and Teststrip. Trained as a writer, his art practice is preoccupied with the visual appearance of words, presented in his installations as textural environments. Taken from their original context of the page, the words in his work transform into beautiful objects in their own right. Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough Douglas Kelaher 10 April - 2 May 2002 Douglas Kelaher is one of the founding members of Dunedin based artist run space The Blue Oyster Gallery, which presents the work of emerging and experimental practices. Creating large scale, minimal sculptures which refer to both the stark 60's work of Donald Judd and Robert Morris and retro science fiction films, his work is both beautifully constructed yet deliberately over-produced, sliding somewhere between simulation and reality. Open Home Hamper Mark Harvey 8 May - 1 June 2002 Auckland performance artist Mark Harvey originally trained as a dancer, and the performances he stages draws perhaps as much on the theatricalities and constructs of contemporary dance as the seminal proto-conceptual practice of traditional performance art. Often deploying the assistance of actors in his work, his large-scale events ape or replicate familiar cultural events, such as a recent work at the George Fraser Gallery, where he created a quasi-nightclub, with audiences queuing for hours to enter the site. Sensible Susan Ballard 17 July - 10 August 2002 Art theorist and artist Susan Ballard has recently been included in Beyond the Surface, a touring show to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and the Suter Gallery, Nelson. Delicate and organic, her work explores the organisms that surround us, the not-quite invisible matter which we take for granted. Expanding and growing in seemingly animalistic ways, the organisms she utilizes in her work change and grow throughout their installation in the gallery. PHY09.02 Hannah and Aaron Beehre 4 September - 5 October 2002 Artist Hannah Beehre and designer Aaron Beehre have worked together on a number of projects, including playing in the group Pine, and exhibiting paintings and sculptures at the City Gallery, Wellington, and the Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth. Playful yet elegant, their artistic practice sources images directly from contemporary design and fashion - logos, posters, cute Manga style creatures. Their work appears light, fresh and ephemeral, designed to date quickly, as market driven and prone to temporal readings as the street art it apes. HACKER 1 Georgiana Morrison 16 October - 9 November 2002 Dunedin based artist Georgiana Morrison has recently co-ordinated LOADED, a collaborative project involving artists and performers, who presented works in shop fronts and spaces throughout the settlement of Port Chalmers. Often working collaboratively in her conceptual practice, her work draws on technical and theoretical considerations of current technology in relation to its impact on identity and space. Her interactive project for The Physics Room utilizes new media to explore contemporary theories around space and fixed vantagepoints. Lift Katharina Jaegar 20 November - 21 December 2002 Christchurch based artist Katharina Jaegar explores themes of process, production, location, and the physicality of the body in sculptural pieces which are both beautiful and playful. Often transforming materials into contexts beyond their original function, recent works have regenerated the humble plastic shopping bag, reconfigured by the artist into exquisite crafted, realistic looking, sleeping bags and life jackets. Lovingly and painstakingly rendered, these works appear as illuminated simulations of the real thing. 'Mouth to Mouth: A Phonetic Attraction' Kathleen Peacock 15 January - 8 February 2003 Christchurch trained artist Kathleen Peacock's work is subtle and evocative, drawing on the power and mystique of language in her meticulously crafted installations. Created for specific sites, and installed discretely, her work often draws on her own experiences and family stories, through the reworking of time and memory. Purchase the HARDSELL!! catalogue HARDSELL - the Catalogue The HARDSELL!! series: Juan Rubén Reyes HARDSELL!! in Order your copy today from The Physics Room ! |
|||
