As we settle into the cooler autumn weather, this month's group exhibition is The Fall. 

The featured works range from the allegorical to the literal, with each artist's contribution bringing a unique interpretation to the shared theme.  

Details of the featured works are set out beneath the images below.

Come take a look - gallery open hours are 11am to 3pm Thursday to Sunday - exhibition runs until Sunday 31 May.

The Fall  

Featured works (in order of the images above):

Paul Dibble

Peeling the Apple, cast bronze, single edition (unique), 1.84 m x 86 cm x 60 cm

Cast in 2012, and featured in the artist's 2023 survey exhibition at Te Manawa, Paul Dibble modelled Peeling the Apple on his youngest son, Dan.

The young man is depicted peeling an apple – the fruit associated with Adam and Eve’s fateful choice in the Garden of Eden, and the resulting fall of man.

The sculpture can be seen as an allegory for life's choices; a metaphor as to how life’s course is influenced by choices made.

Brett a'Court

The Last Temptation of Christ, oil on canvas, 400 x 300 mm

The theological reverse of the fall of man is illustrated in Brett a'Court's oil painting The Last Temptation of Christ.

It portrays one of three demonic enticements made to Jesus in the wilderness, when the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.

"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."

While Adam and Eve fell into sin and fled from God, Jesus stood firm, resisting evil and causing the devil to flee from him.

Justin Cook

Mars for the Rich, ceramic (stoneware) & mixed media – 210 x 200 x 120 mm

Justin Cook notes that unique and exotic insects are prized specimens in entomological collections.

In this sculpture an abstracted form of Rhinoceros beetle, like a conquered land, has been egregiously exploited – caught, pinned and covered in graffiti and gloop.

But, after causing such wanton despoilment, the rich and powerful can abandon ship and take off to a new location – to repeat the cycle of depredation somewhere else or in another form. 

Hard Carry, ceramic (stoneware) & mixed media, with removable glass dome – 220 x 140 x 140 mm

For this sculpture Justin Cook used Oodles – small plastic baby doll figures created in the 1980s – as moulds for multiple miniature baby faces, which the artist then fashioned into a globe-like form. 

The moulded objects and their metallic appearance are a nod to rampant human technological growth, and to our production of structures now visible from space. 

The work also explores the long-held view that overpopulation will exceed the Earth’s carrying capacity.

But, as the artist notes, in the late 1960’s human reproductive rate reached its peak, and since then there has been a regular decline (less than 1% in 2025). 

So the likelihood of the Earth ever experiencing the population crisis predicted for generations is – thankfully - now in doubt. 

Paula Clare King

falling star - centering peace, acrylic & flashe paint on board, 830 x 630 mm (framed size) 

Matt Gauldie

Kotare on Bottle (kingfisher), bronze on miro base, edition of 20, 240 x 230 x 230 mm 

Waiata Aroha (piwawaka), bronze, edition of 20, 230 x 110 x 90 mm  

Tony Rumball 

Painter Tony Rumball’s contributions to this month’s exhibition combine playful pieces with contemplative reflections on the autumnal season. The featured works are:

A Butterfly, acrylic ink on canvas, 400 x 300 mm - in autumn, New Zealand monarch butterflies enter a state of diapause (temporary dormancy), clustering together to overwinter in sheltered trees. 

Cattlestop and Magnolia, acrylic ink on canvas, 510 x 400 mm - petals from a large magnolia tree float gently to the ground  

A Bit of Action, oil and ink on canvas, 300 x 400 mm - guiding a kite as it rises and falls in the sky

Gravity, acrylic ink on canvas, 300 x 400 mm - depicting a colourful artist with falling blobs of paint

White Vase with Foliage, oil on canvas, 460 x 360 mm - an autumnal floral arrangment

Paul Dibble

Twin Falls, cast bronze, 650 x 280 x 210 mm, edition of five + AP

Waterfalls are a pertinent part of New Zealand art history.

The painted waterfalls of Colin McCahon are icons, the pouring of water heavy with religious overtones, offering a blessing on the land.

In Paul Dibble's twin falls the water is portrayed as completely stilled; a luxuirant oozing over the hillside, rather than a dynamic splash.

Fran Dibble

Gum Leaves in Flight, various paints on board, bronze & 24 carat gold gilding, 440 x 470 mm (framed size)

The Chaos of an Autumn Day, various paints on board, bronze & 24 carat gold gilding, 440 x 470 mm (framed size) 

Tree and Leaves, various paints on board, bronze & 24 carat gold gilding, 440 x 470 mm (framed size)

These three paintings by Fran Dibble are inspired by autumn leaves fluttering from the skies. 

“The falling leaves demonstrate a beauty and subtlety in things deemed value-less and transient. They also demonstrate the ‘big’ things in life too, illustrating the passage of time with their annual drop, and the continual presence of gravity pulling things to earth.”

The three paintings each incorporate leaves modelled in bronze, some of which are gilded in 24 carat gold.

"The Fall” runs until Sunday 31st May – gallery open hours are 11am to 3pm Thursday to Sunday