George Baloghy creates a magical city
In his latest exhibition featuring views of Auckland the artist approaches his subject like a magician, making some things disappear, only to re-emerge in other places.
George Baloghy
Magic City
Artis Gallery
Until August 25
In this latest exhibition featuring views of Auckland George Baloghy has approached his subject like a magician, making some things disappear only to re-emerge in other places, playing with time and space.
These portraits of Auckland at first seem like paintings of particular views but we become aware that the artist has changed things and we are seeing the city from new and different perspectives.
Baloghy has created a series of magic realist portraits of Auckland that are a homage to the work of Peter Siddell. They are a continuation of that Siddell's own playful works of the Auckland landscape, as well as a development of Baloghy’s surreal approach to subjects.
He has combined the existing and recognisable with the re-imagined and the repositioned.
So in Magic City ($16,000) he has taken the ASB Trust building in Ponsonby and resited it with some gardens and steps from Alberton. In St Stephens Island ($15,000) he has relocated the little St Stephens Chapel in Parnell to an island which is accessed by Grafton Bridge, and just offshore is Bean Rock Lighthouse.
In Monument to Lord Auckland ($12,000) he has placed the Auckland Museum adjacent to the Ferry Building and also included a memorial to Lord Auckland in the style of Nelson's Column.
As in some of his previous works, he has also combined the past with the present and there are early sailing ships along with contemporary modes of transport.
The artist’s use of highly toned, saturated colours gives this magical city an intense and vibrant surrealism. The artist's manipulation of his subject matter is not merely a playful enterprise but also an indication of the way in which all artists invent, create and transform their subjects through paint.
John Daly-Peoples
Tue, 06 Aug 2013
Tue, 06 Aug 2013
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George Baloghy creates a magical city
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