10 November - 5 December 2012

DAWSON • HIGHT • KIHARA LELEISI’UAO • PATERSON

Milford Galleries Dunedin18 Dowling Street (03) 477 7727 info@milfordhouse.co.nz

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

New & Recent Works

ANDY LELEISI’UAO, Rainbolic Quotidian (2010/12)acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 1013 x 760 x 35 mm 1

2 ANDY LELEISI’UAO, Rainbolic Vivacity (2010/12)acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 1013 x 760 x 35 mm

ANDY LELEISI’UAO, Assembled Harmony (2009)acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 1013 x 760 x 35 mm 3

4 ANDY LELEISI’UAO, Rainbolic Nimbus (2010/12)acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 1013 x 760 x 35 mm

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA, How King Malietoa Forbid Cannibalism (2004)chromogenic print, frame: 837 x 706 x 35 mm, edition of 5 5

6 SHIGEYUKI KIHARA, Fue Tagata; Ghostly Bodies (2004)chromogenic print, frame: 837 x 706 x 35 mm, edition of 5

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA, Ulugali’i Samoa; Samoan Couple (2005)chromogenic print, frame: 1045 x 827 x 35 mm, edition of 5

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA, My Samoan Girl (2005)chromogenic print, frame: 1045 x 827 x 35 mm, edition of 5 7

8

REUBEN PATERSON, Button Down (2012)glitter & synthetic polymer on canvas, stretcher (ø x d): 1504 x 38 mm 9

10 REUBEN PATERSON, Ginger Beer (2011)glitter & synthetic polymer on canvas, stretcher: 1500 x 1500 x 37 mm

REUBEN PATERSON, Owharoa (2010)glitter & synthetic polymer on canvas, stretcher: 1525 x 1220 x 35 mm11

12 REUBEN PATERSON, This is My Bed (2012)glitter & synthetic polymer on canvas, stretcher: 844 x 711 x 35 mm

MICHAEL HIGHT, Mount Pisa (2012)oil on linen, stretcher: 608 x 1370 x 33 mm13

14 MICHAEL HIGHT, Taramakau River (2012)oil on linen, stretcher: 1525 x 1980 x 33 mm

MICHAEL HIGHT, Mataura River (2012)oil on linen, stretcher: 608 x 1370 x 33 mm15

16 MICHAEL HIGHT, Coronet Peak (2011)oil on linen, stretcher: 760 x 1220 x 33 mm

NEIL DAWSON, Vortex 4 (2012)painted steel, size (ø x d): 1350 x 270 mm17

NEIL DAWSON, Wings (2012)diptych; painted steel, total size when installed: 765 x 1380 x 105 mm18

Michael Hight’s Taramakau River portrays a land that may appear empty at first glance, but

whose richness is revealed in the nuances of his brushwork, the strength of his composition

and the subtleties of his conversation about the very nature of the land and our relationship

to it. Power poles follow the natural lines of the gorge, acting as visual signposts for the eye to

rest upon. The sharp lines and regular geometry of the hives are obviously at odds with the

weathered mountain tops, soft bush outlines and meandering river shingle, yet do not seem

out of place due to Hight’s use of tones that mimic the natural surroundings.

The silhouetted profiles seen in Andy Leleisi’uao’s Rainbolic paintings create cavernous

mindscapes inhabited by creatures that are borne of dreams or nightmares. Each painting is

linked by common motifs of horned and winged beings, rainbow speckles and glowing red

hearts, creating a powerful and complex narrative stream for Leleisi’uao’s invented world.

Reminiscent of rock drawings, hieroglyphs and shadow-paintings, the universality of his forms

tap into our own humanity and the histories that underlie it.

As well as winning the 2012 Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award, Shigeyuki Kihara was

awarded a Next Generation Award by the New Zealand Arts Foundation in October. The

works on display in this exhibition are from two bodies of work produced in 2004-5: Vavau:

Tales of Ancient Samoa and Fa’a Fafine: In a Manner of a Woman. Kihara’s self-portraits

confront the viewer with issues of the colonial and post-colonial gaze, gender identities and

European constructs of ‘the other’.

Over the past decade, Reuben Paterson has firmly established himself as one of New

Zealand’s most exciting contemporary artists. He uses his glitter paintings to examine ideas of

self-identity, ways of seeing and the social fabrics found in New Zealand. As well as

addressing historical and contemporary issues surrounding land use, Owharoa suggests the

role of water as a cleansing medium in Maori cultural practices. The waterfall itself is from the

Karangahake Gorge, part of the rohe (land, region) specific to Paterson’s iwi. His textile-

patterned works are inspired in part by fabrics worn by his mother and grandmother; Paterson

states that the “patterns and fabrics represent our genealogy” (1) and as such views them as

much a part of his whakapapa as the kowhaiwhai patterns and carvings from his father’s

wharenui.

Neil Dawson is one of New Zealand’s most successful sculptors on both the national and

international stage. He tricks the viewers’ eyes into seeing smooth, swirling curves where there

exist straight lines and multiple angles. His precise use of fractal images in the Vortex works

draws the gaze over and again into the centre of the work, the illusion of movement

enhanced by the curvature of the sculpture’s surface. The smaller Swirls reverse this effect as

the motifs expand out from a singular starting point.

1. Dan Chappell, “Diamond Dust and Ancestral Stories,” Art News, Spring 2011, Vol 31 #3, pp 74-77

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 T

ANDY LELEISI ’UAO

1 Rainbolic Quotidian (2010/12) 4,500

2 Rainbolic Vivacity (2010/12) 4,500

3 Assembled Harmony (2009) 4,500

4 Rainbolic Nimbus (2010/12) 4,500

SHIGEYUKI KIHARA

5 How King Malietoa Forbid Cannibalism (2004), ed of 5 4,050

6 Fue Tagata; Ghostly Bodies (2004), ed of 5 4,050

7 My Samoan Girl (2005), ed of 5 4,350

8 Ulugali'i Samoa; Samoan Couple (2005), ed of 5 4,350

REUBEN PATERSON

9 Button Down (2012) 18,000

10 Ginger Beer (2011) 17,500

11 Owharoa (2010) 12,500

12 This is My Bed (2012) 9,500

MICHAEL HIGHT

13 Mount Pisa (2012) 15,000

14 Taramakau River (2012) 40,000

15 Mataura River (2012) 15,000

16 Coronet Peak (2011) 15,000

NEIL DAWSON

17 Vortex 4 (2012) 32,500

18 Wings (2012) 16,500