Portal accepted for Printmaking - Beyond the Frame Exhibition

On March 15 I received notification that my work Portal had been selected  by curators Dr Carole Shepheard and Mark Hutchins-Pond for inclusion in the exhibition Boundless – Beyond the Frame to be held at the Pataka Art- Museum, Porirua in May 2017, Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History in September 2017and Waikato Museum in May 2018.

Portal. 2017. 2000mm x 40mm x 1800mm installed.
Digital inkjet and intaglio prints on silk georgette, pine dowel and framing, poplar twigs.

During an artist residency in Arenys de Munt (Spain) I became interested in the issue of scale and proportion, particularly in terms of man-made structures and the environment. Each evening I would walk in the hills or through the village to the sea. Although my daily outlook from the studio included fields and hills, the village itself was full of monolithic apartment blocks that towered over the older buildings, once supporting a different community life, closer to the land. I have always been drawn to expressive mark-making and curious about the effect of well designed spaces. So the combined effect of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s beautiful ‘German Pavilion’ and the work of Antoni Tàpies in the Fundació Antoni Tàpies (both in Barcelona) underpinned my response to this place. Portal, 2017 considers the effect of man-made structures (both physical and idealogical) on our relationship with the environment. While the title implies a doorway to another space, placing the work against the wall precludes our movement through, forcing us to consider our intentions and, perhaps, the impact of our decisions.