ZIMMERMAN ART GALLERY

Previous Exhibitions

August 2021 - group exhibition -This I kept . . .

This month we've unlocked some eclectic art surprises for you.

 

We've been delving into the homes and studios of ZIMMERMAN artists looking for earlier works that, for one reason or another, the artists have kept.

 

And what a variety of treasures we've found!

 

Below are selected images, and a brief commentary on each artist's contribution to this month's exhibition.

 

 

 

Some of this month's exhibited works are intensely personal. Andrew Moon's Ebb recalls one of the artist's few memories of his father, who died when Moon was young. A boy stands looking out a window, hand raised toward a figure in uniform standing in the distance. "The rain on the window is just part of my obscured memory. He remains distant, unobtainable and obscured".

 

Tony Rumball's painting, Part of the Revolution, also features the artist from his younger years, "back in the day when I could still do handstands". Drawing inspiration from Marc Chagall's ambitious work from 1937, The Revolution, an energetic Rumball shows off his athletic skills, effortlessly balancing on one hand.

 

A series of paintings by Elspeth Shannon also playfully pays tribute to art luminaries and designers, tipping a hat to Manet, Rimbaud and David Trubridge. Meanwhile Cam Munroe acknowledges the influence of New Zealand artist Simon Kaan in her 2006 painting, Liquefaction.

 

Lee-Ann Dixon's oil painting, using a found wooden table top as her canvas, acknowledges the passing of time and life's transience. 
 

The paintings of Ian Chapman and Paige Williams dive into surreal territory; Williams' odd-eyed Pink Coyote fearlessly holds our gaze, while Chapman's subjects peacefully slumber in Lucid Dreams.

 

Birds take centre stage in the sculptural ceramic works of Angela Tier and Kirsty Gardiner. Tier's anthropomorphic magpie appeals for help in a time of climate change. With one arm extended, the other is held behind her back - with fingers crossed - hoping we heed her plea. Gardiner's splendid birds, elegantly memorialized in wall plaques, are also a reminder of the preciousness and precariousness of nature, their princely profiles watching and wary.  
 
The earliest work in the exhibition is a 1993 painting by Fran Dibble, a comment on the oddity of collections and collecting. It features a butterfly trapped in a frame, and a page from a stamp collection of insect pictures, the latter "flying" by quite a different means when being sent out on letters.
 
Naga Tsutsumi takes the prize for the most recently completed works in this month's exhibition - the artist was still making changes this week to his two earlier oil paintings.  
 

The smallest work in the exhibition is Michele Irving's applique and embroidery wall hanging, That Night, Rabbit Went for a Walk.

 

The largest work by far is an impressive 3 metre long painting on loose canvas, created by Prakash Patel in India during an artist residency in 2006. Titled City of Light, Patel's painting seeks to incorporate the multi-sensory feeling of wandering through the narrow streets and alleyways of Chandni Chowk, one of the busiest markets in Old Delhi. A documentary on Patel's India residency is featured on https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/out-of-darkness-out-of-india-2007