B-Sides & Demos

Sourced from his own personal archive of drawings, preparatory works and prototypes, B-Sides & Demos presents a selection of previously un-exhibited works by the well known Christchurch artist Tony de Lautour.

Further populating common knowledge of de Lautour’s practice by filling in the blanks that exist in amongst his well known back-catalogue of paintings from the early 1990s through to now, this exhibition includes a wide range of material from as early as 1992.

Drawn from preparatory sketches and doodles on scrap paper, working drawings and drafts alike, these works chart the artist’s eclectic and adventurous processes as forms and figures cycle through the years and various configurations along the way.

Most of the work incorporated here wouldn’t normally find itself on show, but many of the figures and formations that have since become well recognised features of de Lautour’s painted practice actually find themselves realised here in many of these simple works for the first time.

Lions, kiwis, knives, bottles, corporate symbols, slogans and lyrics all jostle for attention at different junctures. B-Sides & Demos and the catalogue produced to document this Physics Room exhibition will clearly illustrate the flexible and ever-cycling vocabulary of forms and characters that de Lautour has established over the last 16 years.

Tony de Lautour graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Canterbury in 1988. He is currently represented in New Zealand by Brooke Gifford Gallery, Hamish McKay Gallery and Ivan Anthony, and by Ray Hughes Gallery in Australia. Recent solo exhibitions include: Souvenirs, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington (2008); Trance, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington (2007); Password, Ivan Anthony (2006); Maze, Ivan Anthony (2005).

Select group exhibitions include: Coming Home in the Dark, Christchurch Art Gallery (2004); Bombs Away, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington and The Physics Room, Christchurch (2003); Dark Plain, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch (2001); Prospect 2001: New Art New Zealand, City Gallery, Wellington (2001).

Tony de Lautour works are also held in the following public collections: Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru; Auckland Art Gallery; Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington; National Library of New Zealand, Wellington; Christchurch Art Gallery; Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui and University of Canterbury.

To preorder your copy of the B-Sides & Demos catalogue which includes full colour reproductions of many of the works included in the exhibition, an essay by Associate Professor Mark Williams and a hand printed stencil cover by the artist please contact The Physics Room.