Six New Zealand artists on exhibition

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33697, 21 November 1974, Page 9

Six New Zealand artists on exhibition

The *‘Six New Zealand Artists” exhibition to be seen at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery comprises work by the sculptors John Panting, Stephen Furlonger, and Terry Powell, and. the photographers Boyd Webb, Ken Griffiths, and Darcy Lange. Apart from being born in New Zealand and subsequently moving to Britain, the six share two common bonds in that they have each received support from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and all have been students of the Royal College of Art in London. John Panting is in some respects the senior member of the group in that his ; achievements have been most widely acknowledged. His untimely death in London on July 31 this year tinges the exhibition with : sadness. Because of the size of his largest sculpture in this (exhibition, it is probably not seen to its best advantage in | the art gallery, but his small linear pieces are vigorous and endlessly fascinating, some for their sheer simplicity and others for their very complexity. Stephen Furlonger’s two sombre sculptures in fibreglass and steel provide, in their heavy black forms and muted reflections, a good contrast to John Panting’s entries; and it is interesting to move from one sculptor's work to the others, enjoying the difference of intention.

The sculpture of Terry Powell has a tenuous link with Panting’s work in that space is used as a conscious element: but his materials, which include metal stands, pieces of wood, string, screws, and various

other bits and pieces, suggest some type of sophisticated and delicate gadgetry that one suspects is capable of performing some very useful function.

Boyd Webb’s photographs depend very much on the titles he has given them to trigger off a visual response. A fairly typical view of a tree-clad river becomes something else when the caption says: “A sheep carcase suspended above the water level several weeks prior to the angler’s arrival will shed a steady and prolonged supply of fresh maggots into the swim, this abundance ensuring that the fish attracted are conditioned to accepting maggots.” One is inclined to feel repulsed by the thought. Eight sets of photographs (by Ken Griffiths are gathered under the over-all heading of “Flesh series” and explore with humour and insight people on a beach, pigs in a slaughter house, a corpse being unveiled and moved, some nuns assembling for a photograph, an expanding group of nudists, a rather strange sequence in modelling lingerie, and a just-married couple steadfastly kissing against a changing background of wedding guests. A moving image and still photographic documentary by Darcy Lange of life in a Bradford factory is good visual recording in which he in no way demeans his subjects; in fact, he often conIveys very strongly their personal dignity in carrying out! ■ what must be, in many! :cases, a series of rather bor< :ing and heartless tasks. The exhibition will remain open until December 1. i ■ — G.T.M.I