Guilt By Association!!! Come on, New Zealand...we're better than this!!!!

I'm not really a political animal, although I try to keep tabs on governance here and back in the USA. Today, I learned about Section 92 or the Copyright Amendment Act, about to be set as law in Aotearoa...and it send chills up my spine.

Please join me in the blackout protest of the Section 92 of the Copyright Amendment Act, dubbed "Guilt by Accusation" bill which goes into law at the end of February. Read all about it on http://www.creativefreedom.org.nz/

This law will affect everybody in NZ, including you!! If you are accused, not convicted, of downloading anything copyrighted, you face having the ISP forced to cut your internet connection. I support copyright protection, but this threatens personal freedoms. Draconian punitive actions are taken without being proven guilty by a jury of your peers. Scary stuff. It becomes law late this month. Please join the blackout protest by blacking out your photo on your social networks to signify the dark age New Zealand internet users enter if this law passes. Kiwis only please sign the on-line petition at the Creative Freedom link above..

Southern Charm

With the wonderful afternoon surprise of family visiting, a trip to Anderson Park Art Gallery is the perfect choice for this week's review. Loved ones can entertain the children on the perfectly groomed playground set amidst roses, lavenders and 25 hectares of bush. I happily venture into the treasury of art within the elegant Georgian style mansion that once served as home for the family of Robert Anderson, businessman and philanthropist of Invercargill's earlier years.

I must confess, I have a certain fondness for Anderson Park Art Gallery, mostly due to the positive manner in which they hosted my 2006 exhibition, Noble People, Treasured Land, a solo show they asked me to do to celebrate the Southland Sesquicentennial. John Husband and Helen Nicols, both extremely knowledgeable on New Zealand art, go to great lengths to insure a visit to the gallery is enjoyable and special.

Inside, I immediately notice relief from the heat and brightness of the clear Southland afternoon with the cool smoothness of the black and white checkerboard marble running the length of the hall to the ornate case clock. An oil portrait by Rita Angus, as well as some paintings and sketches by John Husband and others, hang in the splendid corridor, all gently illuminated from the light reflected through the windows on the shaded side of the building.

A climb up the majestic carved stairs hints at the grandeur of the place. I look up to the stairwell ceiling, elegantly aglow with filtered light, to admire Flight of the Harrier Hawk, an aluminium sculpture of birds by Mervyn R. Saison, commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the opening of the Gallery a few years back.

On the upper storey landing, I head straight to the southwest bedroom gallery, replete with en suite hidden as a writing desk, a futuristic amenity in the 1920's when the home was built. This room houses the works of several contemporary Southland and New Zealand artists. Of course, it's difficult to not to see the imposing self-portrait by John Badcock, whose touring exhibition Passing People a few years back included an extended stop at the dignified surrounds of the Anderson home. I also spy a quirky watercolour Bluff Festival by perennial favourite Georgina Henderson.

What catches my fancy this day is Sounds of Silence by Alvin Pankhurst. This meticulously detailed and hauntingly beautiful still life of a Victorian sitting room features a violin perched on an ornate fireplace mantle behind a table with an amazing lace cloth. On the table stands the remnants of a broken pitcher housing a dried up rose hip stem, stuffed full of string that trails all over, leading the eye to points of interest throughout the work. A crystal cake dish with desiccated orange slices, and glass vase filled with water and a dead flower add to the intrigue. While enjoying my reverie inspired by Pankhurst's offering, my son-in-law, Isaac, walks in emitting a barely audible gasp. He's enchanted with the piece as well.

Come, come, he says! I'm charmed by Isaac's enthusiasm so I hurry over to the upstairs grand hall to admire the two meter squared Night Walk in the Ureweras by John Drawbridge. Triumphantly mounted in between two other Drawbridge prints, this oil on rough canvas work is a compelling abstract in deep blues, silver and earth tones.

Maree Helston, the very cheerful and knowledgeable gallery assistant for the day, points out the Geoff Dixon Takehe Flatworld. What a colour explosion. I fix my gaze. Ah, there it is. The surprise. I won't ruin it for you. Dixon is playful in this piece. You really must see it. Isaac and I walk around the room enjoying Ralph Hotere's Window in Spain, Colin McCahon's Koro III, a work sans painted scripture, and an interesting Doris Lusk, Detained. This loosely but confidently rendered watercolour features three persons separated by bars devoid of paint, presumably accounting for the title. There's also the colourful Farmyard With Rooster and Chooks by beloved Francis Hodgkins, and a Paul Dibble black bronze sculpture, Soft Geometric Series 2, Number 20. My companion nods his approval.

In the northwest room, John Husband's, Gala Street Elegance, and a long time favourite, The Rabbitor, by Colin Wheeler are featured. Back in the upstairs corridor, on the way to the east room, I spy Dark Hoverer by Don Binney and Headland by William Sutton .

The east bedroom displays selections by Mark Olsen, including the arrestingly eerie and precise, Silvester Siblings, as well as paintings by Dick Frizzell and Annie Baird.

By this time, my daughter and granddaughter are seeking refuge from the sunlight and heat and have made their way up the stairs. It's time to go. Oh wait...just let me go see... downstairs in the Grand Hall. I always take time to see him when I visit Anderson, or any museum for that matter. This one is tiny, about 6 x 6 inches and needs a light to really see it. I walk over to Charles Frederick Goldie's Te Rerehau Kahotea. I don't understand the controversy about Goldie. I think his Maori paintings are magnificent.

I regrettably forgo a stop in the complimentary tea and coffee room. Glancing briefly into southwest room, which I think served as a reception area for the Andersons, I notice paintings by Peter Beadle, Graham Braddock, John Crump. Sorry, gentlemen, hopefully I can stay longer next time.

Back outside, we walk to the playground so my granddaughter can have one trip down the slide. Isaac, standing next to me, offers, "I'm surprised how much I enjoyed myself in the gallery this afternoon. It is really amazing, and I'll have to come out here again". Yes!!!! That's what I like to hear!

Anderson Park Art Gallery
McIvor Road
Invercargill

Phone: (03) 215 7432
10:30 to 5:00 daily, except Christmas and Good Friday
Email: andersonparkgallery@xtra.co.nz

Photos:
Top: Anderson Park from front garden
Next: Grand Ball Room, Invercargill Symphonia playing at opening for Noble People, Treasured Land in 2006

The Game Takes Time

In order to absorb my own unique perception of an art exhibition, I usually like to walk straight past the information posted at the front of the line up and begin viewing works somewhere in the middle. Then I like go back to the artist statement to discover if my observations are anywhere near what the artist intended. What fun!

I walk confidently into Fair Game, created by 2008 William Hodges Fellows, Don Hunter and Ana Terry, on now in Gallery 4 at Southland Museum and Art Gallery. Peering into the even-more-dimly-lit-than-usual gallery, I spy engraved carpet squares in checkerboard patterns on the floor, silhouettes of plywood covered with carpet and metal, shotgun-shaped handled duck toys, and that magnificent chandelier! Whoa! I march back to the start to retrieve the handsomely designed brochure for the exhibition.

According to the publication, the duo's intent is to investigate the Southland traditions of fishing and duck shooting, proclaiming, "Duck shooting and whitebait harvesting are fiercely territorial and even tribal activities". They explore the relationship between the wetland environment and that of the hunter and fisher. Written by Otago Polytechnic School of Art lecturer, Ali Bramwell , the statement gently relays the artists' Southland-honouring perception of the land itself, as well as the respect they have for the folks who enjoy duck hunting and whitebait gathering in the deep south. Explanation is offered for all the stations contained within the display. Hunter and Terry work voices no judgment on these activities; they simply present their interpretations of the life and activities enjoyed by the participants.

It's quite difficult to select a favourite in this exhibition. All nine stations fit together, almost symbiotically, to give a complete presentation. I love the sparkling chandelier....every visitor heads straight for it, resplendent with its spotlighted whitebait-shaped acrylic-crystal lobes hooked onto the frame. What takes a bit of time, mainly to allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness, is to truly observe the silhouettes of marsh grass, the windblown "Orepuki haircut" tree and the pointing dog amongst all the carpet squares, some of them embedded with shot gun shells. The shadowplay of the shapes against the squares of burned-in design is amazing. The Head Shot and Butt Shot display, looking like wall trophies with the appropriate end of the duck as mount, is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, using spent cartridges as plaques of honour on one and shot riddled holes in the other. If I must select a preferred station, it may be Last Flight, a trio of ducks in zinc plate on plywood. I truly appreciate this piece only after I turn around from enjoying the audio visual presentation of Sweet Spot. I notice the trio magically glowing a beautiful blue from the light bouncing from the projection. Sweet.

Fair Game presents Southland in a noble, yet challenging manner. It is respectful of the explored activities, yet tries to have fun. Most visitors I observe make a bee-line to the chandelier, give an exclamation of approval, look around briefly, and then leave. What a shame. As an artist who is the first to admit I struggle with conceptual art, I urge those coming to the exhibition, to relax and invest the time necessary to truly appreciate the presentation and discover the playfulness Hunter and Terry portray. The "Fair Game" write up is well worth a read. Southland Museum, always outstanding in their set up, would do well to provide nearby seating in a better lit area to facilitate this. The one in the nearby Maori artifacts display is in a dark area. Viewing enjoyment is enhanced by reading the beautifully created pamphlet. Thank you Don Hunter and Ana Terry. Enjoy your time in Vanuatu. Exhibition runs till 8 March 2009.

Be sure to check out the Liz Bristow "Moments in Time" Exhibition around the corner from this display in the Community Gallery.

Bristow "endeavours to capture those intimate and telling moments in which emotions and actions reveal our personalities". In the display of 15 dynamic and splashy, mostly figurative, charcoal and acrylics, some in impasto, indeed, with paint squeezed straight from the tube are presented. I like best an abstract entitled, A Dark Night.

Looking around at the riot of colour about the gallery, I can't help thinking---Liz is simply having too much fun!!! Come see her celebration in this lively show, which ends 22 February.

Southland Museum and Art Gallery, Gala Street, Invercargill. Hours: 8:30 to 5 Daily. Phone: 219-9069