Two flamboyant artists: Midori and Myah Flynn

Some artists manage to bring flamboyance to their work, providing an additional frisson that makes one conscious of the emotional content as well as the creative impulse.

This was evident in the playing of the Japanese violinist Midori at last week's Auckland Philharmonia concert and in the new exhibition of paintings by Myah Flynn.

Myah Flynn, Virtuosa

Orexart

Until July 10

In her latest show at Orexart, Myah Flynn continues  to produce vibrant coloured works in which her loose gestural painting and controlled detail create fascinating worlds which are at once discoveries of the home of the gods and explorations of  cellular biology.

The titles of the show and many of the works hint at strange and distant locations as well as alluring states of mind. There is also a sense of the painting being views of the natural world seen through a microscope with organic shapes undergoing metamorphosis.

With many of works in this and her previous exhibitions the titles are slightly romantic or exotic and she will often misspell the words to create a sense of distortion, adding to the shifting reality of her painted works

The works draw on Baroque trompe l’oeil frescoes, Salvador Dali and the abstract expressionists to create swirling ornate worlds. In some such as Necropolis ($2800) there is a touch of Hieronymus Bosch but not quite as malevolent.

There is a sensuality and physicality to the works with their tumbling waves of colour which is reinforced by the occasional cavorting figure in works such as Rapture ($5300).

These figures are more like fairies than human and occasionally an alien figure looms out of the chaos or there is a dramatic gesture by a ghostlike figure as in Pursuing Wonderland ($3200), which appears to be directed at the viewer.

The paintings have an intensity and drama conveyed not merely by the organic swirling shapes but tin the creation of an almost heavenly architecture of Scorpis Veneris ($5200).

Presenting Midori

Beethoven Violin Concert

Auckland Philharmonia

Auckland Town Hall

June 24

The violinist Midori looks like a conservative, restrained Japanese woman but put a violin in her hands and she is transformed and she transforms the music she is plays.

Last Thursday she played the Beethoven Violin Concert with the Auckland Philharmonia, which was at itsr best, complementing the soloist in a riveting concert.

The orchestra began by creating a dense musical structure, elegantly erected under the supervision of conductor Baldur Bronnimann. Then it was the turn of Midori, who inserted an emotional core to the structure which she developed and expanded.  

She appeared by turns to be both captivated and enthralled by the music as well challenging and dominating it.

She would be ramrod straight, playing like a standard issue romantic violinist and then, buffeted by the music, she would be bending and swaying. She seemed to be in its thrall, with her inelegant movements evoking something of the tensions inherent in the music.

Technically she was impressive, particularly in the solo sections where she created her own superb variations, which provided an insight into the modernism of Beethoven as well as displaying Midori's perceptive reading of the music.

Even when she was playing at breakneck speed she conveyed the emotion and the poetry of the work.

Whether she was attacking her violin with a rawness and savagery that few soloists display, or in her moments of quietude, she managed to place herself and her intensity at the centre of the music.