review

I was chuffed to read the generous half-page review of Lugosi's Children in the Weekend Herald. Most of the 11 artists in the exhibition were mentioned by Graham Reid and he responded very favourably to both the atmosphere of the exhibition as well as the major theme of the show, which concerns the ways that people respond to darkness.


Here are a few documentary snaps of the exhibition and the artist talk on Saturday 27 August taken by various people including myself, Laura Howard and Katharina Jaeger.
Bronwynne Cornish's Oracle Howl with the other Bronwyn (me) behind it.

A view inside the Oracle tent where the three Oracles, Howl, Sigh and Screech await written questions from visitors, which will be answered by the Oracle within seven days.

The responses from the Oracle are transcribed onto pieces of paper along with the person's initials and these are pinned to the wall of the calico tent, so that people can return to the exhibition and read the answer to their question.

Julia deVille's Golden Gosling looks out onto Ponsonby Road.

Rosemary McLeod's bride, Aunt 2, casts a ghostly shadow on the gallery wall. She becomes the stand-in Miss Havisham in the exhibition.

A view of the space with the long table in the foreground with works by Katharina Jaeger, Jane Dodd, Tanya Wilkinson and Paul Rayner. The viny-cut image on the back wall is a translated curse called Loss (Study 2) by Ben Pearce.
One of Katharina's Goblet and textile sculptures is being passed around visitors to the artist talk at the Gallery.
Katharina and me at Objectspace before she flew home to Christchurch. A selection of her amazing pieces look on in the background.

Steph Lusted holding her intricately carved necklace for the visitors to look at, while I nervously hold the fragile bell jar that encloses the piece on display.

Shelley Norton is talking here about her fantastic installation in the vault, which is a plastic outline of the three figures from Manet's famous painting Olympia - the nude courtesan, her maid, and a black cat. You can just glimpse Olympia's head in the background of the image. Unseen on the other side of the vault is an installation of 69 pieces called Freud's Forest that converses with Olympia.

By the way, in the image above I am holding the A4 exhibition catalogue for Lugosi's Children, which includes a wonderful introduction by Jack Ross, a substantial 7000 word essay that I wrote about each of the works in the exhibition, and a fantastic selection of images. The catalogue, beautifully designed by Alan Deare of Area Design, retails for $5.00 per copy. Contact Objectspace to order a printed copy (only a limited number remain), or you can download a free copy for yourself right here.

The two indispensable members of the exhibition team: Laura Howard, Objectspace Programme Coordinator and Karl Chitham, the visionary exhibition designer.

A view of the table. It is so hard to capture the detail of the works so you really must come and visit the exhibition and see the works in the flesh. Inside the bell jars are five of Jane Dodd's exquisitely crafted predator / prey brooches. Paul Rayner's Grayson Perry Spirit Bottle is the centre-piece on the table. Five of Tanya Wilkinson's decorative ceramic cakes are placed around the table, along with eight of Katharina Jaeger's goblet mounds, collectively titled new skin thickens on my skull. Tim Main's beautiful wood and ceramic Rosette Southern Forest 1 looks splendid hung high on the side wall of the gallery.

The exhibition runs until 1 October at Objectspace, 8 Ponsonby Road, Auckland.
I hope you'll drop by for a visit.

At 11am on Saturday 24 September Dr Jenny Lawn and Dr Jack Ross from Massey University's School of English and Media Studies (Albany) will be giving an informal public talk at Objectspace about Gothic themes in New Zealand Art, Film and Literature.

Free admission
All Welcome

Comments

Skyler said…
Congratulations Bronwyn! It looks and sounds like a great exhibition :-)
It is a wonderful show B ! Great news about the review .. And congrats to all else involved . Magic
Meliors Simms said…
Oh my it looks marvelous! I wish I could get along to see it somehow.

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