New Zealand themes around landscape and identity are commonly explored by New Zealand artists and as artistic style develops and we form our own distinctive style around these themes, there's always the challenge of how to do this in new and different ways. The Satellite Gallery was exhibiting works by John McNicholas who explores distinctively New Zealand shapes , forms and colours in his depictions of landscapes through his painting, often from an aerial perspective. He aims to "[carve] out familiar coastlines with a new sense of mystery and imagination."
The earlier works are rendered in greyscale with a mixture of sections of flat colour and mottled textures within the same painting to create and mixed sense of perspective. At times the landscape is completely flattened while other sections of the painting create a sense of perspective, resulting in a shifting space. Some works contain among the grey some distinctive mountain shapes coloured in green. They seemed to symbolize New Zealand's 'Clean and Green' culture whilst juxtaposing it among the monotony of the grey industrial area to make a comment on this supposed environment.
The flattened out landscapes were reminiscent (though I'm not sure if this was intended but it was what sprung to mind for me) of traditional Maori tribal tattooing in its simplistic use of flat colour and shape to create pattern. I think this is a clever way to represent the land and it's people through a distinctive and unique aspect of the culture.
The next phase of his work goes into the use of colour and tonal variations, resulting in a shift away from the more abstract style into aerial perspective. I found these works to be of mixed success. Some colours were so fantastically vibrant, especially in the use of blues and greens for the sea and the sky that it drew you towards it from across the room. One such work consisted of three small square canvasses, each one progressively zooming in on Rangitoto Island. Though aesthetically pleasing, it is all too much like many previously done depiction of the landscapes of New Zealand. As he developed his coloured style, he goes back towards abstraction and mixed viewpoints in depicting the landscape. Overall, I found it a bit harder drawing the meaning and symbolism from these works and often I felt there was no real focal point or in the works making them less effective, such as the one below.
Overall, I felt this exhibition was interesting in that you could see the progression and development of the artist's style over time whilst focusing on the same subject with varying degrees of success. It perhaps also represents the shifting of our land over time and the changes in how we treat, value and relate to it. Like any geographical map, the landscape changes with time from both natural and man-made influences as well as technological advancements in terms of an accurate representation of reality. Yet, when represented through art, the land can become an outlet for expressing personal emotions linked the land and identity which when combined with all of the above, creates an endless possible scope in how the New Zealand landscape is depicted. This is without a doubt what we have seen and will continue to see.
Note: Documentation of this artist's work is difficult to obtain online, hence lack of images.
The earlier works are rendered in greyscale with a mixture of sections of flat colour and mottled textures within the same painting to create and mixed sense of perspective. At times the landscape is completely flattened while other sections of the painting create a sense of perspective, resulting in a shifting space. Some works contain among the grey some distinctive mountain shapes coloured in green. They seemed to symbolize New Zealand's 'Clean and Green' culture whilst juxtaposing it among the monotony of the grey industrial area to make a comment on this supposed environment.
The flattened out landscapes were reminiscent (though I'm not sure if this was intended but it was what sprung to mind for me) of traditional Maori tribal tattooing in its simplistic use of flat colour and shape to create pattern. I think this is a clever way to represent the land and it's people through a distinctive and unique aspect of the culture.
The next phase of his work goes into the use of colour and tonal variations, resulting in a shift away from the more abstract style into aerial perspective. I found these works to be of mixed success. Some colours were so fantastically vibrant, especially in the use of blues and greens for the sea and the sky that it drew you towards it from across the room. One such work consisted of three small square canvasses, each one progressively zooming in on Rangitoto Island. Though aesthetically pleasing, it is all too much like many previously done depiction of the landscapes of New Zealand. As he developed his coloured style, he goes back towards abstraction and mixed viewpoints in depicting the landscape. Overall, I found it a bit harder drawing the meaning and symbolism from these works and often I felt there was no real focal point or in the works making them less effective, such as the one below.
Overall, I felt this exhibition was interesting in that you could see the progression and development of the artist's style over time whilst focusing on the same subject with varying degrees of success. It perhaps also represents the shifting of our land over time and the changes in how we treat, value and relate to it. Like any geographical map, the landscape changes with time from both natural and man-made influences as well as technological advancements in terms of an accurate representation of reality. Yet, when represented through art, the land can become an outlet for expressing personal emotions linked the land and identity which when combined with all of the above, creates an endless possible scope in how the New Zealand landscape is depicted. This is without a doubt what we have seen and will continue to see.
Note: Documentation of this artist's work is difficult to obtain online, hence lack of images.
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