Two big names in New Zealand art open at Christchurch Art Gallery

Fake trees popping up around the city mark the arrival of a new Dane Mitchell exhibition, titled Post hoc, following a stint centre stage at the Venice Biennale.

Visitors to Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū can experience exhibitions by two renowned New Zealand artists in August.

New Zealand-born, New York-based artist and Zen master Max Gimblett is known for the dynamism of his work and his expressive use of colour and ink.  From brightly coloured abstract paintings to his pure black ink drawings, Ocean Wheel showcases an artist’s devotion to working on paper as a key part of his output.

Christchurch Art Gallery Lead Curator Felicity Milburn says the exhibitions reflect two very different ways of seeing and thinking about the world.

“In a time of change and upheaval, Max Gimblett’s works remind us of the expressive power of colour and form,” Milburn says.

Accompanied by drawings, paintings, artist’s books and prints spanning Gimblett’s career from the 1960s to 2010, including examples from his iconic quatrefoil and enso series, Ocean Wheel acknowledges a major gift of more than 200 works to Ōtautahi Christchurch in 2011.

“Max and his wife Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett have shown such generosity in this gift to our city’s collection,” says Milburn. “Ocean Wheel marks a special friendship with an exceptional artist.”

Dane Mitchell’s Post hoc conjures up the ghosts of our past, calling up millions of lost, extinct and obsolete things. From submerged atolls to failed utopias, extinct languages to tax havens, Post hoc broadcasts from within the gallery carefully researched lists of things that once existed but are now no more.
Milburn says Post hoc highlights the unrelenting new losses and extinctions occurring as our present moment becomes the past.

“Dane Mitchell’s practice calls attention to all we’ve lost as a result of the modern emphasis on growth and progress,” Milburn says.

The exhibition was created for the 2019 Venice Biennale, and includes an echo-free chamber in the gallery space and three cell-phone towers disguised as trees placed around the city centre – on the Gallery forecourt, in the Botanic Gardens and at 88 Worcester Street.

Dane Mitchell: Post hoc is on display at Christchurch Art Gallery from 1 August until 1 November 2020.
Max Gimblett: Ocean Wheel is on display at Christchurch Art Gallery from 1 August until 15 November 2020.

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