ZIMMERMAN ART GALLERY

Previous Exhibitions

September 2017 - Cam Munroe - Shape Shift

For the month of September 2017, ZIMMERMAN is featuring Shape Shift - new paintings by Wellington-based artist Cam Munroe.   

Cam Munroe: Shape Shift

Cam Munroe’s “shape shift” works take the form of 10 paintings on 200 mm round panels. 

The works play with space, form and dimension; an assemblage of carefully crafted geometric shapes, meticulously mapped and marked out in finely painted white rows, contained within dark circular bases.  

“This most recent work reflects my continuing interest in the workings of the mind. For example the power of thought to alter one's mood or outlook of a moment in time. These paintings offer a type of 'flip book animation' of sorts; a snap shot of forms from one form to another.”  

Picking up and extending the aesthetic of these small “shape shift” works are five large paintings on canvas. 

The large works, while employing similar tones and techniques to the circular panels, introduce the idea of palisades: fence-like structures, suggestive of containment, fortification and enclosure.  

“Previously I have dealt with large black paintings that used a more grid like approach. I am hoping these works that allow more open space around the canvas to take this into further maturation. Painting with white ink on a textured substrate has been integral to the work, in doing this forcing my mind and hand to slow down and benefiting each finished composition.”  

The exhibition of Cam Munroe’s new paintings at ZIMMERMAN runs from 1 to 30 September 2017.  

Cam Munroe – brief artist bio

Born in Melbourne in 1972, Cam Munroe is a graduate of the Meadowbank School of Art and Design in Sydney. In 1994, Munroe moved to New Zealand, and established her home and studio in Wellington.  

Munroe has a solid exhibition history, extending over more than two decades. The artist has been represented by ZIMMERMAN since her first solo exhibition at the gallery in 2010.  

Munroe’s art practice initially focused on painting, with wood, canvas, cardboard and aluminium all employed as bases on which the artist marked out her unique pictorial language.  

Characteristically comprising a collection of curious objects and cryptic symbols, the artist’s paintings frequently assume a grid-like arrangement, in which strange and mysterious forms are captured, collated and contained. Munroe’s current series of paintings expands upon this former body of work, featuring new forms that transcend the faintly marked and disintegrating gridlines that lie beneath. 

In recent years, the artist has extended her media of choice to include ceramics. This new media has provided Munroe with a means of translating her pictorial language into three-dimensional form. 

In 2015, a ceramic composition by Munroe was slected as a finalist in the Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand’s most prestigious drawing award. In 2016, Munroe took out the Premier Award at Ceramicus in Wellington, confirming the artist’s successful adoption of this new media.