Te Hokinga Mai; A new film by Damon Meade & PAULNACHE Productions
Scoop
Hypnic Jerks; A film by Damon Meade & PAULNACHE Productions
PAULNACHE presents... 'EVAN WOODRUFFE, Hypnic Jerks'. Film by Damon Meade; Photography by Tom Teutenberg @2TEN; Music by Junk Shop Star. PAULNACHE Productions © 2015 - View the exhibition
James R Ford's inaugural solo with Gisborne dealer PAULNACHE
James R Ford in conjunction with PAULNACHE, Gisborne, NZ presents...
lol·ly·gag
- intransitive verb \ˈlä-lē-ˌgag\
- : to spend time doing things that are not useful or serious : to fool around and waste time
Forever playfully exploring the intimate relationships between physical media and everyday life: James R Ford’s investigations into, and reflections on, existential nature and the use of conventional materials and modes of presentation reveal countless nuanced contradictions as well as a fascination with process and the filling in of time. While mostly a creator of laboured drawings, well considered objects and videos, Ford also provides us with scenarios that have us pondering over the mundane and/or acting out the absurd as he invites us to look deeper into his works and what is taking place around us.
There are several strands to the concept behind these works, but all question the nature of the artwork and our perception therein. The exhibition title, Lollygag, was chosen as the works on show may appear to be foolish or useless on first glance. The idea here is to look at how we spend our time, what is considered a waste of time, and how thought alone can bring worth to something seemingly “worth nothing”. Nothing as in empty, or the act of doing nothing (being idle, waiting, worrying), or the relative importance of an gesture or the worth of the artwork itself (nothing to offer, waste of time, pointless).
Bertrand Russell, from the essay “In Praise of Idleness”, says “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” This can be applied to the time spent producing the artworks, or the time used by the viewer in looking and contemplating them. Where do “wastes of time” sit in your hierarchy of needs? Maybe we all need some things we don’t need for the subsequent virtue or pleasure they can bestow. The exhibition will consist of a new body of work including film, drawing and object assemblage. With Hat Stand (Waiting for Godot) Ford invites viewers to try on and swap the hats on display, assuming other identities or personas, especially if you find yourself waiting for something.
- Opening: Friday, 4th of July, 6:00PM at PAULNACHE Upstairs 89 Grey St Gisborne, NZ
- Exhibition: 4th-26th July 2014
James R Ford (b. 1980, UK) studied at Goldsmiths College in London and currently lives and works in Wellington. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and overseas and in 2013 was winner of the inaugural Tui McLauchlan Emerging Artist's Award from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. In 2014 Ford published a book of selected works, with accompanying texts, interviews and essays from 2008-2013, entitled Fail Better.
Peter Adsett at The Melbourne Art Fair
Born in Gisborne, New Zealand, in 1959, Peter Adsett has lived and worked in Australia since 1981, developing his painting practice. He exhibits regularly in both countries, and has had shows overseas in New York and Boston.
His academic credentials include an MFA from the Northern Territory University, and a PhD from Australian National University. In 2001 he was awarded a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and enjoyed residencies in the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York, and the McDowell Colony in New Hampshire. Adsett’s work is held in institutions and museums in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Adsett has devoted twenty years now to an investigation of abstraction, and like such iconic figures as Richard Serra and Robert Ryman, he proves the enterprise to be one of great, untapped potential. One could even view Adsett’s art as a critique of abstract painting from the early 20th century to today, a task that became further complicated when he confronted the art of Indigenous Australians - what many believe is the most powerful painting produced today.
On 2000 he completed a series of large-scale acrylic paintings in collaboration with the Gija artist, Rusty Peters. The resulting exhibition of fourteen works (seven each), titled Two Laws, One Big Spirit travelled around Australia and New Zealand.
In 2009, Adsett built a house/studio in southern Victoria that was the fruit of another collaboration, this time with a New Zealand architect, Sam Kebbell. The innovative and much admired building (now housing Adsett and his family) is regarded as a “dialogue between painting and architecture.”
This is the direction currently being explored in the works for the 2014 Melbourne Art Fair. Whilst he would maintain that his paintings always “take on the wall”, Adsett’s recent work engages with this proposition explicitly. Furthermore, in 'Room with a View' the viewer will discover a degree of wit and humour, latent in much of his earlier work, but now coming to the fore with zest.
Mary Alice Lee
Peter Adsett is represented by Gisborne dealer Paul Nache.
The Cultural Currency of Matthew Couper
Matthew Couper, Limbo of the Journeyman, 2013, Oil on canvas, 358mm x 161cm, Private Collection USA
Matthew Couper's 2014 solo 'Limbo Of The Journeyman' centers around a large oil painting on loose canvas of the same title, painted in the artist’s Las Vegas studio. It continues Couper’s interest in developing art as a ‘cultural currency’ while showing autobiographical features of his life in the USA and his ongoing dialogue and relationship to anachronistic art practices. Couper’s association with the notion of a journeyman (the artistic development between an apprentice and a master) is brought to the fore, singling out his context, journey – both physically and intellectually – and the trials and tribulations of his career path since immigrating to the USA in 2010.
Slug und Lettuce
Upon recent return from Europe, artist Matt Arbuckle will be exhibiting works produced in Germany. Matt is based in Berlin, however will be showing throughout New Zealand during early 2014. His solo exhibition ‘Slug ind Lettuce’ opens at PAULNACHE 3 January 2014. Film shot and cut by Motif films and the artist.
Tools of the Trade grand opening in Gisborne
Justin Jade Morgan. Photo courtesy of Paul Nache
We are excited to officially welcome Auckland based artist Justin Jade Morgan into the ‘Family’. Morgan’s practice dovetails between group collaborations, individual pieces and extended projects. Developing performative pieces, installations, drawings, audio and photographic works that explore the relationship between physical objects and life as performance. His personal projects have featured in the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, The Dowse, Lopdell House Gallery (NZ), the Border Museum (Slovenia), Digital Fringe 08 (Melbourne), 3rd ‘Arhipelag’ International Contemporary Arts Festival (Solvenia & Italy), International Museum of Collage, Mexico and ‘ArtColle’, France with residencies and other temporary projects taking place in France, Germany, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand. Morgan’s inaugural exhibition ‘Tools of the Trade’ opens at PAULNACHE on First Friday 7 March 2014, 6:00PM. He plans to attend the opening.
NO MORE LOL·LY·GAGGING
James R Ford, Twiddling My Thumbs (still a), 2014, HD digital video transferred to Blu-ray, silent, 1 sec (looped)
James R Ford was born in 1980 in the United Kingdom. He studied at Goldsmiths College in London and currently lives and works in Wellington. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and overseas and in 2013 was winner of the inaugural Tui McLauchlan Emerging Artist's Award from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. This year, Ford self-published a book of his selected works, with accompanying texts, interviews and essays from 2008-2013, entitled 'Fail Better'. After featuring in several curated exhibitions, PAULNACHE is pleased to announce his upcoming inaugural solo exhibition with the Gisborne Gallery, opening Friday 4th of July 2014. The artist will attend his opening.