Art: Fiona Hall

Yesterday, I visited the Fiona Hall exhibition and the Wellington City Gallery.



It was a bit casual, because I was going to the Film Festival, but then wasted time over a pear and almond tarte at a French restaurant and missed the film I wanted to see. No other films appealed to me, while art rarely bores me.

This was a new discovery as I didn't know the artist at all. She's Australian and uses all kinds of materials: alluminium tins, glass beads, wire, paper money, films (the actual film tapes), glass cases, plastic bottles, photographs, videos, wooden marionettes, plexiglass, etc. And she produces work that is both intelligent and beautiful.

As Sally Blundell phrases it in her Listener review: "The beauty is undeniable – these strange life forms glow and sparkle. But so, too, is their sting."

Medicine Bundle for the Non-Born Baby (1993-94)


Here's a link to the artist's profile and to some of her works from this exhibition.

It's difficult to pick what I liked best, because the artworks are very varied and all equally challenging. Perhaps what impressed and moved me most were the installations Tender, a glass case of empty bird nests - of birds running the risk of extinction - made with shredded American dollars, and Mourning Chorus, another glass case, this time in the shape of a casket and decorated with New Zealand vegetation frosting, containing 11 now-extinct species of NZ birds made of plastic containers and perfectly realistic resin beaks.

Rita Angus: Life and Vision

I finally went to the Rita Angus exhibtion at The Papa. I'm still processing it all and will need to go a few more times, probably take the curator's tour. But here are a few random observations:

Rutu (1951) is without a doubt, a masterpiece: the composition, the intensity of the colours, the "new-zealandness", the whole concept behind it, lift it above everything else she's done.



Overall, her watercolors impress me more than anything else. Both the landscapes...



... and, perhaps even more, her still natures and flowers:



I wish she had developed more the "woman alone mythology", which is so beautifully embodied in this portrait of Marjorie Marshall:



I still don't like her later works - the abstracts, the oils heavy on symbolism - some of which are almost embarassing (especially Journey, Wellington).

Glorious sunny day and half Wellington was there: social event of the year, apparently.

Theatre: Rome, The Musical

Last night I went to see a NZ-created musical, Rome: The Musical at the Circa Theatre.



The fabulous book and lyrics are by Paul Jenden, who also directs, and the music is by Gareth Farr:

The creators of Troy and Monarchy complete their trilogy of historical musicals with a wildly inaccurate romp through the Roman Empire. The Events of decades are condensed into the space of just one evening, when Julius Caesar hosts a dinner party that is interrupted by the arrival of the infamous and exotic Cleopatra.



I especially enjoyed the five-piece orchestra that uses all kinds of popular instruments, such as accordion, clarinet, trumpets, drums. The musicians were integral part of the action, providing the music for the dinner/orgy.

Loved the ironic lyrics, a satire of contemporary politics, with a heavy nod to the current election campaigns both here and in the U.S.

Excellent cast and as always we're left wondering what NZ talent could achieve with the real money and opportunities available to theatre (especially musical theatre) in other countries.

Back here

I've read a beautiful book. The biography of Rita Angus, one of the quintessential New Zeland artists, who contributed to the creation of a truly national sense of culture and identity.



What is so interesting about an artist who married young, divorced shortly afterwards, had no children, lived mostly on her own and in isolation, travelled to Europe only once, was a pacifist and a feminist, dedicated her life entirely to art but sold as little as she could, no drama, no scandals?

Well, if art means anything to you, everything.

The biography is brilliantly researched, simply, but elegantly written, and as well as tracing Rita's life, it offers also a lesson in 20th century Kiwi history and society, life in this land of milk and honey, at the far edge of the world. Plenty of prints of her artwork accompany the text.

And this weekend, the great exhibition of all her major works, many of which never displayed to the public before. Can't wait.

Finally, I want to rec Alice Tawhai's Luminous, a collection of most exquisite short stories nominated for the Montana book award.



Alice thinks of writing stories as being like painting with words. The colours and the shades have to be exactly right. Her writing practice could be seen as unorthodox as she doesn't start each story at the beginning and finish at the end, she just writes random paragraphs until she knows that they're all there, and then strings them together in an order that makes some sort of sense. Alice prefers anonymity and thinks that her inspirations, her characters she writes about, deserve any accolades she receives.