28 June – 23 July
This series of paintings by Philippa Blair is a record of the thoughts, feelings, and events that motivated, inspired, and, at times, horrified her over the past 18 months.
The paintings in this show offer an incredible insight into the artist’s creative process: nothing is hidden, the immediacy is the message. As it has been throughout her long career, Blair continues to challenge herself – she draws on her reserves, harnesses energies, and she pushes firmly against any casual acceptance of the status quo.
Avoiding easy categorisation, Blair’s work comes to us as a series of heightened discoveries, explorations into the infinite possibilities of mark making and painterly expression.
In A Diary of Events we see a world subject to competing forces, tensions and fractures, climate change, rising sea levels – there is an explosive energy, an urgency about the work. The ‘times’ require more than passivity, casual acceptance, or the detachment of acquiescence, the times require a more radical response, a fearless breaking of old rules to create new solutions.
The exhibition is described as ‘a dance between order and chaos’ by John Daly Peoples in his insightful review in New Zealand Art Review, read here
A catalogue illustrating the complete collection is available from the Gallery upon request, or click below to view or download this catalogue.
