August 24 - September 14, 2013
The title of this recent body of works by Chris Heaphy, Maukatere (floating mountain), refers to Mount Grey, near Amberley in New Zealand's South Island Te Wai Pounamu. This mountain is of particular significance to Ngai Tahu Maori, for it is believed that the spirits of the dead leave from its summitt on their long journey to Cape Reinga. In his recent article "Chris Heaphy's Kaleidoscopic Eye" (Art New Zealand, Issue 144 / Summer 2012-13), Martin Patrick describes Heaphy as an artist of Ngai Tahu and European descent, "who weaves associations across both cultures throughout his practice". In this painterly practice, Patrick writes, Heaphy "has actively sought a powerful hybrid subjectively assembled from diverse aesthetic and thematic concerns; amidst his keen awareness of the dense thicket of symbols that surrounds us, he has located his own distinctive language, a generous re-mix of lavish and busy signs conveyed in a clean and crisp graphic style." Patrick goes on to describe the surfaces of Heaphy's paintings as "covered edge to edge with a plethora of small, silhouetted interlacing forms" where "the artist skilfully negotiates his use of darker values and neon hues to make his imagery practically leap out in hallucinatory fashion into the viewer's space... "
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Details of works
Atutahi, 2012
acrylic on linen
1200 x 1200mm
Whetu-Kura, 2012
acrylic on linen
1200 x 1200mm
Maungapohatu, 2012
acrylic on linen
1200 x 1200mm
Followers of Darwin 1-3, 2013
digital print on ACM Board
12 pieces each
<brclass="small" align="left">Maukatere, 2012
acrylic on linen
1900 x 2700mm
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5 individual works, 2013
Reason; Affection; Natural Willingness; Instinct; Principle
digital print on ACM Board
175 x 175mm
Esme, 2013
limited edition screenprinted T-shirts