Download - THE SURREAL
Milford Galleries Dunedin18 Dowling Street Dunedin (03) 477 7727 [email protected]
www.milfordgalleries.co.nz
4th February - 29th February 2012
The Sur real
1. RAY CHING, Lists / Stratocumulous Goose (2007)oil on canvas on panel, panel (v x h x d): 1370 x 1750 x 18 mm
1. RAY CHING, Lists / Stratocumulous Goose (2007) DETAIL VIEW
2. RAY CHING, The City Hedgehog and the Country Hedgehog (2008)
oil on board, frame (v x h x d): 1085 x 1264 x 20 mm, panel (v x h): 900 x 1080 mm
2. RAY CHING, The City Hedgehog and the Country Hedgehog (2008) DETAIL VIEW
3. RAY CHING, Pelorus Jack and the Monkey (2008)
oil on board, frame (v x h x d): 1075 x 1254 x 20 mm, panel (v x h): 910 x 1090 mm
3. RAY CHING, Pelorus Jack and the Monkey (2008) DETAIL VIEW
4. RAY CHING, At the Museum / Cry of the Young Karearea (2007)
oil on canvas on panel, frame (v x h x d): 1103 x 1254 x 35 mm, panel (v x h): 930 x 1080 mm
4. RAY CHING, At the Museum / Cry of the Young Karearea (2007) DETAIL VIEW
5. RAY CHING, The Crowing Cockerel, the Fox and the Wallaby (2007)
oil on canvas on panel, frame (v x h x d): 1380 x 1685 x 20 mm, panel (v x h): 1210 x 1520 mm
5. RAY CHING, The Crowing Cockerel, the Fox and the Wallaby (2007) DETAIL VIEW
6. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Sea Travel (2009), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 922 x 1068 x 23 mm
6. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Sea Travel (2009) DETAIL VIEW
7. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Food for Thought (2009), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1118 x 1375 x 22 mm
7. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Food for Thought (2009) DETAIL VIEW
8. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Caught Short (2010)
oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1120 x 1375 x 25 mm
9. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Caught Short II (2010)
oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1120 x 1375 x 25 mm
9. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Caught Short II (2010) DETAIL VIEW
10. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Fly By Night (Planes / Figures) [BG#3] (1999)
oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h): 1670 x 908 mm
10. JOANNA BRAITHWAITE, Fly By Night (Planes / Figures) [BG#3] (1999) DETAIL VIEW
11. JENNA PACKER, Vantage Point (2011), acrylic on canvas, frame (v x h x d): 432 x 532 x 48 mm, stretcher (v x h x d): 306 x 406 x 36 mm
11. JENNA PACKER, Vantage Point (2011) DETAIL VIEW
12. JENNA PACKER, Messenger Bay (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 405 x 507 x 38 mm
Facing Page: 13. JENNA PACKER, Pontoon (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 560 x 710 x 38 mm
14. JENNA PACKER, Saltmarsh Hangar (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 913 x 1220 x 34 mm
14. JENNA PACKER, Saltmarsh Hangar (2011) DETAIL VIEW
15. JENNA PACKER, The Camp (2011), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 915 x 1220 x 34 mm
15. JENNA PACKER, The Camp (2011) DETAIL VIEW
16. GARY WALDROM, Girl and Ceramic Pig (2008/09), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1220 x 1829 x 23 mm
18. GARY WALDROM, Sundance Sisters (2006-09), oil on canvas, frame (v x h x d): 842 x 1682 x 25 mm
17. GARY WALDROM, Fairground (2008), oil on canvas, frame (v x h x d): 1020 x 1675 x 25 mm, stretcher (v x h x d): 1017 x 1672 x 20 mm
17. GARY WALDROM, Fairground (2008) DETAIL VIEW
19. GARY WALDROM, Girl and Horse I (second series) (2008/09)
oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1829 x 1220 x 34 mm
20. GARY WALDROM, Urban Escape (2000)
diptych; oil on canvas, top / bottom panels (v x h x d): 1070 x 1838 x 25 mm each
21. MARC BLAKE, 8 Minutes and 18 Seconds (2011)
tetraptych; acrylic, water-soluble oil, graphite, colour pencil, pigment ink & UVLS varnish on board, overall size (v x h x d): 1590 x 2000 x 46 mm
21. MARC BLAKE, 8 Minutes and 18 Seconds (2011) DETAIL VIEW
22. MARC BLAKE, Future Fund (2011)
tetraptych; water soluble oil, acrylic, graphite, colour pencil, pigment ink, UVLS varnish, total size (v x h x d): 1594 x 2800 x 46 mm, panels each (v x h): 797 x 1400 mm
22. MARC BLAKE, Future Fund (2011) DETAIL VIEW
23. MARC BLAKE, Everything I Can Do to Remember (2011)
acrylic, graphite, colour pencil, pigment ink & UVLS varnish on board, panel (v x h x d): 1201 x 1198 x 46 mm
23. MARC BLAKE, Everything I Can Do to Remember (2011) DETAIL VIEW
24. MARC BLAKE, The Value of Persistence (2011)
acrylic, graphite, colour pencil, pigment ink & UVLS varnish on board, panel (v x h x d): 599 x 965 x 46 mm
24. MARC BLAKE, The Value of Persistence (2011) DETAIL VIEW
25. MARC BLAKE, Everything I've Ever Known (2009) acrylic, graphite, colour pencil, pigment ink & UVLS varnish on board, diptych; panels overall
acrylic, graphite, colour pencil, pigment ink & UVLS varnish on board, diptych; panels overall (v x h x d): 1203 x 2400 x 46 mm
26. PAUL MARTINSON, Jam Jar Fishers (2011)
acrylic on board, frame (v x h x d): 848 x 659 x 46 mm, panel (v x h x d): 800 x 608 x 5 mm
26. PAUL MARTINSON, Jam Jar Fishers (2011) DETAIL VIEW
27. PAUL MARTINSON, Black Light (2012), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 835 x 505 x 33 mm
27. PAUL MARTINSON, Black Light (2012) DETAIL VIEW
28. PAUL MARTINSON, Wedding Safari (2011)
watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame (v x h x d): 825 x 965 x 34 mm
29. PAUL MARTINSON, On the Origin of Species (2012)
watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame (v x h x d): 840 x 990 x 35 mm
29. PAUL MARTINSON, On the Origin of Species (2012) DETAIL VIEW
30. PAUL MARTINSON, Ornithological Pursuits (2012)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, gouache & gold foil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 780 x 940 x 35 mm, painted image (v x h): 395 x 590 mm
30. PAUL MARTINSON, Ornithological Pursuits (2012) DETAIL VIEW
31. SIMON CLARK, No Place Like Home (2011)
oil & dutch gold leaf on board, panel (v x h x d): 1320 x 1000 x 41 mm
32. SIMON CLARK, Ranch Slider (2009)oil on board, panel (v x h x d): 1320 x 1000 x 45 mm
33. SIMON CLARK, Carbine Road (2009)
oil on board, panel (v x h x d): 1000 x 1320 x 45 mm
34. SIMON CLARK, Five Thirty for Seven (2010)
oil on board, panel (v x h x d): 1000 x 1314 x 45 mm
33. SIMON CLARK, Carbine Road (2009) DETAIL VIEW
35. SIMON CLARK, The Ecstasy of Communication (2011)
oil & 24 carat gold leaf on board, panel (v x h x d): 460 x 460 x 41 mm
35. SIMON CLARK, The Ecstasy of Communication (2011) DETAIL VIEW
Growing out of the anarchy of Dadaism, the original Surrealists (Picabia, Breton,
Duchamp, Chirico, amongst others), saw their movement as a philosophy of social and
moral revolution where “the dream is omnipotent.”(1) In his 1924 publication Surrealist
Manifesto, Andre Breton states that Surrealism expresses “the actual functioning of
thought… in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic
or moral concern.”(2) How do the artists chosen for this exhibition – Marc Blake, Joanna
Braithwaite, Ray Ching, Simon Clark, Jenna Packer, Paul Martinson, Gary Waldrom – fit
into this idea of the Surreal?
Simon Clark’s ‘No Place Like Home’ and Joanna Braithwaite’s ‘Sea Travel’ both defy the
constraints of a rational world, instead depicting places where fish do indeed require
bicycles. Clark’s bicycling fish are lined up with other creatures of invention: the Frosty
Boy, a Mobil Oil Pegasus, the bird-chaser from Cerebos salt, and, centre stage, an
unnerving doll in quasi-Maori dress, hand raised in greeting. If this peculiar world is home,
there is indeed no place like it. Clark’s parade of disjointed characters is dreamlike:
random elements combine to create an irrational whole, certainly depicting the “play of
thought” advocated by Breton.
Marc Blake says of his work that “it can feel like I'm trapped or hemmed in somehow,
and I have to wait until the right idea comes and suggests a way forward”(3) – this idea
of the subconscious subverting the rational hints at the ‘automatic drawing’ practiced
by both the Dadaists and the Surrealists. A raft of (seemingly) disconnected dream-like
images inhabits the works of Marc Blake. Realist images of children, schoolgirls and old
men are belied by the “immense amount of seeming contradiction”(4) in Blake’s work.
Shown in a flattened, unreal perspective, and accompanied by stylised trees and
ghostly creatures, his characters tote machine guns, wear gas masks and die in their suits
as costumed children pass by (‘Everything I’ve Ever Known’) and submarines breach an
unnamed sea.
The ‘facts’ of place, time and history are also undermined in the paintings of Jenna
Packer and Gary Waldrom. Packer’s delicate brushwork and muted hues bring to mind
19th century depictions of New Zealand settlement, at first glance comfortingly familiar.
Upon closer examination however, it becomes clear that Packer’s story-telling has its
roots in an alternative reality. ‘The Camp’ reveals a desolate harbourscape where
settlers seek shelter in the decrepit hulk of a zeppelin and other works feature fantastical
waka-forms bedecked with bunting whilst giant dragonflies flit through sepia-toned skies.
Set against burnt-orange hills and a glowing sky, outsized, grinning faces couple with the
disparate elements of an eyepatch, conductor’s cap and bare breasts in Gary
Waldrom’s ‘Sundance Sisters’. The forthright gaze of the sisters is disconcertingly direct,
they stare out of a twilight world, betwixt and between the boundaries of everyday life.
Here and there, now and then – these rational parameters are concealed beneath the
saturated jewel-tones of Waldrom’s canvases as he juxtaposes “two more or less distant
realities”(5), something Breton believes essential to create an image of “emotional
power and reality.”(6)
Breton writes of fairy tales, as a “fabric of adorable improbabilities”(7) that needs to be
tweaked for adult consumption; he would undoubtedly find that artists Ray Ching and
Paul Martinson are skilled exponents of this. Their exquisitely painted pictures possess the
very “fear, attraction of the unusual, chance, the taste for things extravagant”(8) that
adult fables need. Ching’s works are fabulous in the original sense of the word ie: fable-
like. ‘Pelorus Jack and the Monkey’ and ‘The City Hedgehog and the Country
Hedgehog’ are Ching’s take on Aesop, complete with moral lessons. Ching’s
juxtaposition of incongruous stylistic devices such as expository text, comic book imagery
and stunningly realist portraiture in works such as ‘Lists/Stratocumulous Goose’ tell stories
which are multi-layered and complex, their meanings hidden.
Paul Martinson is open about his work’s surrealist undertones, believing that:
“to draw spontaneously without conscious reference to normality, morality
and social taboos … is an attempt to allow a ‘free flow’ of imagery and
ideas as a painter.”(9)
This ‘free flow’ permits him to create spaces where fish swim in lightbulbs and birds sleep
in jumbled piles. The juxtaposition of the rational and the irrational is a powerful tool and
the viewer has no choice but to examine the relationships between what is ‘real’ and
what is not. Martinson’s paintings, with their delicate colour washes and meticulous
detailing, are like the mirror in Alice Through The Looking Glass – reflecting not just what is
visible, but what is not.
Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto was written at a time of massive social upheaval: post-World
War I horror, new political and social structures rising in Europe, art that turned traditional
19th century Academy traditions on their heads. He intended it as a call to further social
revolution, a new way of thinking for a new world order. We see now that, although the
revolutionary zeal may be dimmed, artists today are still concerned with the ‘unsparing
quality’ of the imagination Breton espouses. He would wholeheartedly approve of the
ways in which our artists ‘refuse to accept defeat, set off from whatever point they
choose, along any other path save a reasonable one, and arrive where they can.”(10)
1. Breton, Andre. Surrealist Manifesto, 1924
2. Ibid.
3. Blake, Marc. Q+A #2: Emily Goldsmith with Marc Blake. Sydney, January 2011
http://www.marcblake.co.nz/marc_blake_words_Jan2011.html
4. Breton, Andre. Surrealist Manifesto, 1924
5. Pierre Reverdy, quoted in Surrealist Manifesto, Andre Breton, 1924.
6. Ibid
7. Breton, Andre. Surrealist Manifesto, 1924
8. Ibid.
9. Paul Martinson, Artist’s Statement, 2010
10. Ibid.
All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition
E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T
R A Y C H I N GR A Y C H I N GR A Y C H I N GR A Y C H I N G
1 Lists / Stratocumulous Goose (2007) POA
2 The City Hedgehog and the Country Hedgehog (2008) 23,000
3 Pelorus Jack and the Monkey (2008) 23,000
4 At the Museum / Cry of the Young Karearea (2007) 34,000
5 The Crowing Cockerel, the Fox and the Wallaby (2007) POA
J O A N N A B R A I T H W A I T EJ O A N N A B R A I T H W A I T EJ O A N N A B R A I T H W A I T EJ O A N N A B R A I T H W A I T E
6 Sea Travel (2009) 9,500
7 Food for Thought (2009) 12,000
8 Caught Short (2010) 12,000
9 Caught Short II (2010) 12,000
10 Fly By Night (Planes / Figures) [BG#3] (1999) 7,500
J E N N A P A C K E RJ E N N A P A C K E RJ E N N A P A C K E RJ E N N A P A C K E R
11 Vantage Point (2011) 2,750
12 Messenger Bay (2011) 2,750
13 Pontoon (2011) 3,750
14 Saltmarsh Hangar (2011) 6,000
15 The Camp (2011) 6,000
All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition
G A R Y W A L D R O MG A R Y W A L D R O MG A R Y W A L D R O MG A R Y W A L D R O M
16 Girl and Ceramic Pig (2008/09) 17,500
17 Fairground (2008) 15,000
18 Sundance Sisters (2006-09) 15,000
19 Girl and Horse I (second series) (2008/09) 17,500
20 Urban Escape (2000) 19,500
M A R C B L A K EM A R C B L A K EM A R C B L A K EM A R C B L A K E
21 8 Minutes and 18 Seconds (2011) 9,500
22 Future Fund (2011) 12,500
23 Everything I Can Do to Remember (2011) 5,000
24 The Value of Persistence (2011) 3,500
25 Everything I've Ever Known (2009) 8,500
P A U L M A R T I N S O NP A U L M A R T I N S O NP A U L M A R T I N S O NP A U L M A R T I N S O N
26 Jam Jar Fishers (2011) 7,500
27 Black Light (2012) 6,000
28 Wedding Safari (2011) 7,000
29 On the Origin of Species (2012) 6,500
30 Ornithological Pursuits (2012) 5,500
S I M O N C L A R KS I M O N C L A R KS I M O N C L A R KS I M O N C L A R K
31 No Place Like Home (2011) 6,500
32 Ranch Slider (2009) 6,000
33 Carbine Road (2009) 6,000
34 Five Thirty for Seven (2010) 6,000
35 The Ecstasy of Communication (2011) 2,500