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Friday 12 November 2004
Art is often something completely separate from the real world. It is often pretty pictures of beaches and sunsets whose primary purpose is to provide an escape from the trials and tribulations of life’s many stresses.
On occasion, however, a body of work is generated that doesn’t eschew reality but rather faces it head-on.
Such an exhibition is Heta: Power and Fragility by Mark Cross currently on display at the Whangarei Art Museum.
The body of this show is made up of very large colour photographs of the devastation left behind by cyclone Heta in Nuie.
Each image is more than a meter square which, in itself, speaks about the scale and significance of these events.
This format is, in effect, the next best, or next worst, thing to being there. The viewer is able to feel the forces required to twist and crush massive columns of concrete.
Yet it is the dichotomy of the sundrenched light and tranquil blue sky against the ruined remains of man’s best efforts that hold the greatest impact.
Lest we become too complacent in our technological prowess thinking what we build from steel and concrete is permanent, these images remind us that it is still nature that is in charge of this planet.
Cross nails the message home with photographs where the residents of the island are positioned in front of the carnage that was their homes.
These images are the antithesis of the relaxed couple sipping cocktails on a Pacific beach.
Protagoras in the 5th Century BC said man was the measure of all things. These stoic fragile humans are the measure of Heta’s unrelenting power.
The Whangarei Art Museum also features selected works of four Northland artists with images, while perhaps less tropical, are no less significant in terms of their political and social content.
Quinton Carrington, Vaughan Gunson, Andrea Hopkins and Wilson O’Halloran all work in radically different media but share a common concern for the conceptual exploration of cultural phenomena.
Vaughn Gunson uses the media imagery of newspapers to generate an image that dwells on populist political protest.
Occupy is available as low-budget handout referencing countless other pamphlets distributed around the world by those seeking to effect political change.
Andrea Hopkins relies on the more conventional aesthetic of painting to create images that relate personal and cultural narratives.
Turangawaewae – a place to stand employs a Western painterly style to speak about a Maori world view. The whare is insignificant in scale compared to the canvas yet directly linked to the massive heart of the planet.
This hybrid visual language evident in the works of celebrated artists such as Shane Cotton, and John Walsh synthesises culture, style and beauty of global quality with local flavour.
Fifteen Murders of Fame by Wilson O’Halloran comprises the names of well-known victims in the cut-out sequined letters mounted directly to the wall.
This is a kind of fame that we would rather avoid. The scale and glitter are uncomfortable reminders that we are all complicit in a phenomena where gruesome horror is served up as dinner-time entertainment.
Perhaps the most restrained and formal works of the group are provided by Quinton Carrington, whose Culturally Safe seems at first like any other minimalist abstract piece.
However, once the connection is made between the geometric painting and the two basketballs below, a whole new world of phallic symbolism is unleashed. We are now faced with a heady mix of testosterone, sport, art and culture.
Eighty percent of the information we receive visually, and 80 percent of that does little more than we already know.
The works in both these exhibitions go far beyond this. At their best they encourage us to extend our understandings and reconsider the reality around us.
Author: The Advocate
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