Three artists; three worlds

Juncture
Elizabeth Rees
Artis Gallery
Until Jul 3

In her latest show “Juncture” Elizabeth Rees continues her studies of the human condition, portraying individuals in the landscape. As in her previous work her figures are isolated, often alone in that landscape.

However, unlike her previous figures these ones are more distinct and their faces more recognisable. There is also a sense of communication: they confront the viewer, where previously most her figures had their backs to us. They are also generally static, with no sense of movement.

Some works, such as A Silent Dream”($10,500), have a Turneresque quality, with figures contemplating the grandeur of Nature, the colours of the sky, the dramas of the light.

The works all have a dreamlike quality as though inspired by past memories and hazy recollections, the slightly scumbled landscape and figures implying veils of mystery.

While the figures are alone in the landscape, there is an ambivalence to the theme. On the one hand, there is a feeling of them attempting to communicate with the viewer, on the other the blankness of the face seems to make communication difficult.

Two Friends ($10,500) has two distant figures, seemingly in conversation while in ($7800) the bright blue of the figure's clothes makes him seem like some sort of apparition.

The artist has created her landscapes with a minimum of means; they are more like slashes of expressionist colour works, colour and light used to create the effects. But there are also something recognisable, such as the bridge in Passing Through ($10,500) and a ruined building, Crossroads” ($10,500)

As with her previous work, the exhibition can be seen as a contemplation on important events or junctures in life, certainly implied by the titles of Crossroads, Passing Through” and “This Place.

Fields
Adrian Jackman 
Nkb Gallery,
Mt Eden
Until July

Adrian Jackman’s paintings in his exhibition Fields are like giant jigsaw puzzles, which have been incorrectly assembled with the kaleidoscope of colours and shapes appearing to be constantly shifting.

The works derive from the depiction of everyday objects and the notions of geometric abstraction.

His fields could be said to derive from the gridded field of the urban environment, which are then superimposed on grids constructed by the artist to which he then adds a further diagrammatic outline so there is an unsettling sense of the known and the unknown.

The eye traverses his canvasses, searching for recognisable shapes and forms but they keep morphing into abstract shapes.

In Imaginary Landscape No 15 ($4900), one can discern various domestic items – a chair, a couch and a laptop – but these items are broken up by a kaleidoscope of coloured shapes. We are confused about what sort of space we are looking at – a room, a bird’s eye view of a landscape or a map.

In “Imaginary Landscape 17” ($9500), there are a similar collection of shapes and here we also discern the artist further intervening with a series of ghostly white shapes delineating scientific beakers and a hammer, and we wonder whether these give a clue to how the painting has been constructed – as an experimentation or a fabrication.

A similar ghostly outline in “Imaginary Landscape 16” ($9500) has the shape of a teddy bear.

The artist has also exhibited some small works such as “Imaginary Landscape 10” ($1400), which can be seen as either small abstract studies for the larger works or small sections taken from larger paintings.

Yugen
Kathy Barber
Orexart, Arch Hill, Auckland
Until July 16

The artist says the term Yugen is a Japanese principle implying that beauty exists when it is suggested – a few words, a few strokes bringing to mind that which has not or cannot be said.

In traditional Japanese art and literature, it is a means of expressing the mysterious sense of aesthetics and the ambivalent beauty of Nature and the human condition

In some ways these almost calligraphic works have a sense of capturing an idea as do traditional haiku, encapsulating complex notions and ideas

Many of her works are like the work of Max Gimblett who produces large deft strokes of calligraphy, grand gestures often laid over coloured or metallic grounds.

Barber’s work, however, is more considered with carefully applied strokes, somewhere between the painter’s brush mark and the calligrapher's line.

Some of the small works in the show such as Soro ($1900) of a single calligraphic stroke and Rain Chain ($1900) of a double stroke are attempts at creating the harmonious balance, which is then expanded in the larger works.

Most of these larger works are abstract calligraphic works, such as “Rain Chain and Blessing” ($5900) with elegantly shaped swirls. Others such as Omikuji ($5900) have a more mysterious appearance shrouded in haze while in Naoshima Pier ($5900) the calligraphic shapes are so minimal they almost disappear

Works such as Aiiro ($5900), have a real sense of landscape with a distant horizon line as well as what could be read as reeds. These natural forms convey an almost realist scene, so that abstraction and realism intersect.

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