milford galleries queenstown9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 qtown@milfordgalleries.co.nz

12th March - 6th April, 2011UPSTAIRS GALLERY

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Elizabeth ReesA Short Walk From My Brother’s Bach

1. ELIZABETH REES, Blue Beyond (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 503 x 508 x 37 mm

2. ELIZABETH REES, Slender Pines (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 508 x 506 x 37 mm

3. ELIZABETH REES, Through the Pines (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 598 x 700 x 21 mm

4. ELIZABETH REES, Through the Thickets (2010), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 598 x 698 x 21 mm

5. ELIZABETH REES, Pastel Evening (2010), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 503 x 602 x 37 mm

6. ELIZABETH REES, Pausing Tide (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 495 x 600 x 37 mm

7. ELIZABETH REES, Rivulets After Rain (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 603 x 1217 x 37 mm

8. ELIZABETH REES, Reflections After Rain (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 610 x 910 x 37 mm

9. ELIZABETH REES, Bright Tide (2010) oil on canvas, stretcher

oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 603 x 1218 x 37 mm

10. ELIZABETH REES, Gathering Clouds (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 503 x 600 x 37 mm

11. ELIZABETH REES, After Sunset (2010), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 452 x 452 x 37 mm

12. ELIZABETH REES, Sepia Light (2010) oil on canvas, stretcher

oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 700 x 900 x 37 mm

Elizabeth Rees’ new exhibition is a twelve part poem to summer, light and being at

the beach.

In the past Rees work has characteristically been atmospheric in character. This

exhibition demonstrates a broad range of skills and (again) her virtuoso handling of

paint.

“Bright Tide” (2010) demonstrates remarkable abilities. Leafed branches carve the

work into pieces. They dominate the foreground and set the visual agenda. The aptly

named “Sepia Light” (2010) captures the essential moments of a day’s beginning –

where darkness still inhabits the bush and light arises in the air. “Reflections after Rain’

(2010) and “Rivulets after Rain” (2010) likewise reveal the breadth of her

representational command and the silent silvery slide of tides.

The contrast of light and dark is fundamental to all Rees paintings. “Pastel Evening”

(2010), “Through the Pines” (2010) and “Through the Thickets” (2010) reprise this, with

the sense of looking, from and to, focally dominant.

Three inter-related works (Blue Beyond, Slender Pines, Gathering Clouds) return to the

bright light of day and the broader palette of “Bright Tide”. ‘A Short Walk from My

Brother’s Bach’ takes us to the simplicity of summer, the personal joy of being at the

beach and how we come to remember, building the specifics of location through a

process of glimpses, moments and private journeys.

E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T 1 Blue Beyond (2010) 4,500

2 Slender Pines (2010) 4,500

3 Through the Pines (2010) 6,500

4 Through the Thickets (2010) 6,500

5 Pastel Evening (2010) 5,000

6 Pausing Tide (2010) 5,000

7 Rivulets After Rain (2010) 9,000

8 Reflections After Rain (2010) 7,500

9 Bright Tide (2010) 9,000

10 Gathering Clouds (2010) 5,000

11 After Sunset (2010) 3,500

12 Sepia Light (2010) 8,500 All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

Elizabeth Rees 2011 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 1

ELIZABETH REES b. 1959, lives Auckland

Idyll (2008)

Rees’ works explore the relationship between the body and mind and the environment in which we

exist. Within her recent canvases she depicts the body in motion, moving toward or away from the

unknown. “What are we fleeing from? What are we hurtling towards? What are we leaving behind and

what do we hope to find? Each to one's own path and motivation we are in motion in the passage of

life and time. Each painting freeze-frames a moment; the last step has gone and the next is yet to

come.” 1

Previous bodies of work show figures at intersections, within moody and still landscapes. “They

are…about people at intersections or crossroads of life. What we are witnessing are epiphanies, times of

decision and apprehension. The works become analogies for points of change and transition in the

stretch of human life, the physical, psychological and spiritual.” 2

As with her figure works, her landscapes have a psychological element. Each enigmatic space conjures

the feeling of isolation, potential and mystery. She achieves this through a controlled and unique use of

paint. Rees works on carefully primed canvases, enhancing the luminous qualities of oil paint. At times

she has created divisions in the picture plane which are either both real and imagined. “Light is a major

component of her work. The light of the skies and backgrounds flood around the dark scumbled figures,

providing them with brilliant auroras …which adds to the mystery of the works”. 3

Rees was born in Palmerston North in 1959. She completed a Diploma in Fine Arts, Queen Elizabeth

College in 1976 and a Diploma in Fine Arts [Painting], University of Canterbury in 1980. She has exhibited

regularly since 1989. She is represented in major private collections nationally and one of the most

significant private collections in the USA.

1. Artist Statement, 2009.

2. John Daly-Peoples, ‘Artist Rees conjures up sense of isolation’, National Business Review, 12 April 2002.

3. John Daly-Peoples, ‘Southern view is full of foreboding.’ National Business Review, 14 May 1999

Elizabeth Rees 2011 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 2

ELIZABETH REES b. 1959, lives Auckland

EDUCATION

1977 Diploma of Fine Arts (Painting Major), University of Canterbury, Christchurch

1976 Preliminary Diploma of Fine Arts, Queen Elizabeth College Palmerston North

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 A Short Walk From My Brother’s Bach, milford galleries queenstown

2009 In Motion, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2008 Rapture, milford galleries auckland

2007 Second Sequence, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Sequence, milford galleries auckland

2006 Selected Paintings, milford galleries auckland

2005 Mood & Memory, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2004 Recent Paintings, milford galleries queenstown

Figure and Landscape, milford galleries auckland

2003 Traffic, milford galleries auckland

2002 Intersection, milford galleries auckland

2000 Painted, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Journey, milford galleries auckland

1999 Momentum, Milford Galleries Dunedin

1998 Low Light, Peter Muir Petford Gallery

1996 Here and Now, Milford Galleries Dunedin

1995 Special Effects, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1994 Second Stage, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1993 Small Stage, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1992 Recent Paintings, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1989,90,91 Elizabeth Rees, Auckland Society of Arts

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 The Earl Street Journal., milford galleries queenstown

The Royal Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

2009 Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown

Take 5, MG, Auckland

2007 Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown

Moments, milford galleries auckland

Looking South, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2006 Essence, milford galleries auckland

Location South, milford galleries queenstown

2005 The Southern Landscape, Milford Galleries Dunedin

The Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown

2004 Transit of Venus, milford galleries Auckland

Transit of Venus, milford galleries queenstown

Notable Works, milford galleries queenstown

2003 Is As: Landscape As Metaphor, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Chosen, milford galleries auckland

2002 Portrait Exhibition, milford galleries auckland

The Cloak: A Group Exhibition, milford galleries auckland

PNGHS Te Manawa, New Zealand Ballet Exhibition, Parnell Cathedral

2001 Rees/ Cleverley/ Binding, milford galleries auckland

2000 Artists Chairs, milford galleries auckland

1999 Looking South, Milford Galleries Dunedin

1998 A Special Place, Warwick Henderson Galleries

New Zealand Now, Warwick Henderson Galleries

Elizabeth Rees 2011 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 3

1997 The Subject of Object, Milford Galleries Dunedin

New Zealand Real, Milford Galleries Dunedin

1996 Buy By Tender, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1995 Aids Foundation, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1994 Modern Myth, Chiaroscuro Gallery

1993 Portray Portrait, Morgan LeFay Gallery

1992 Chiaroscuro Show, Chiaroscuro Gallery

AWARDS

1989 Birkenhead Art Award (Merit)

COLLECTIONS

Kensington Swan

Private collections within New Zealand and internationally including a major private collection in the

USA

SELECTED ARTICLES (as attached) 1999 Kerr, Elizabeth J, ‘Momentum: New Work by Elizabeth Rees’, Art New Zealand, issue 93,

Summer, 1999/2000

1994 Unger, Pat, ‘The Theatre of Disintegration: The Paintings of Elizabeth Rees’, Art New

Zealand, issue 73, Summer, 1994/95

1994 Mannion, Robert, ‘Painting a Bright Future’, The Dominion, Saturday October 22, 1994

Light Air (2009)