A Wednesday wander around some of Ponsonby’s art galleries is a great way to brighten the day, even when the weather’s so wet and grey.
David Alsop at {Suite} Gallery (189 Ponsonby Road) was busy installing Wayne Youle’s latest exhibition: a mix of text-based works and some bright abstract paintings that give a nod to Mondrian. {Suite} has been on the Ponsonby Strip for a year now, a second location for the well-established Wellington gallery.
While the road-front gallery hosts regular solo exhibitions, there is a gorgeous courtyard out back with large sculptures, and an upstairs with salon-style hanging of Ans Westra photography, and works by represented artists such as Richard Lewer and Kate Yesberg.
There was a group show at Orexart along at 221 Ponsonby Road, which included a delicate painting of the Pink and White Terraces by Martin Ball, vivid gestures of paint by Philippa Blair, and a quiet studio scene by Richard McWhannell.
It’s great to see art on the main street, adding to the cultural buzz of bars, restaurants, and boutiques. The wonderful FHE Galleries just next door has an incredible exhibition, “Oceania”, which mixes traditional korowai, whakairo, and tapa with contemporary photography and sculpture.
Heading back in the rain to Studio Art Supplies, I popped in to Scott Lawrie Gallery to see what local artist Cruz Jimenez has been up to. His exhibition of dark oil paintings hinted at galaxies and starbursts emerging from a midnight sky. In some, wide washes of white veiled the almost back-blue backgrounds. These works offered a dynamic contrast to the stock room, where bright paintings by Nicholas Ives and Julian McKinnon hung.
I was very pleased to see a painting by Tony Guo also on display: a surreal scene of animals packed onto an ornate stairwell. Tony recently graduated with his Masters from AUT, and he undermines his very academic style with narratives which are bizarre, full of humour, modern parables that are obscure yet completely contemporary.
I replaced my wet shoes with new Converse from Knowear and warmed myself with a Bolognese pie from Daily Bread – what a wonderful day to browse the neighbourhood! (EVAN WOODRUFFE/STUDIO ART SUPPLIES)
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Published 6 August 2021