C.S.A. festival show badly planned

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34098, 10 March 1976, Page 13

C.S.A. festival show badly planned

Friday saw the open-p Ing of the first two ofp this year’s Christchurch j j Arts Festival exliibi-': tions. At the C.S.A. a 1 gargantuan pot pourri 1 of landscape orientated paintings, prints, and sculpture entitled “Land,” at the Labyrinth woodblock prints! l by Bryan Janies Both close on March 20. The confrontation between the New Zealand artist and his principal thematick source, the landscape, is an obvious and interesting assignment for the exhibition compiler, but what could have inspired the C.S.A to extend its terms of reference as widely as it has for this show is beyond comprehension The visitor is confronted. I at once, with an arbitrary collection of the worst in formalised conventionalised topographical landscape and a randc in selection of the work of serious contemporary artists. Obviously the C.S.A.. w hen confronted with the I products of its own mis-! chievous planning, has feit the urge to impose some order upon the works, and so the viewer may be guided by what, in the mind of the C.S.A, is obviously the firstfifteen jn the middle floor, the reserves downstairs, and the also-rans on the mezza-< nine. However, an attempt has! been made to rectify the in-! vitational policy, under! which if any standards were! envisaged they were only of: the most nebulous kind. The result, however, must be an outrage to the serious artist whose work is devalued by the implication that such contrived and con-i tentiona.ised romantic land-! scape as Greathead’s. Chilvers’s, and Moore’s, and) Fleming’s indescribably-’ awful New Zealand map in! a sea of pa'e turquoise! under seas, moon, and stars,!

are the products of an activity of the same order. Turning away from the) many horrors we find an I interesting range of indifferent to good works representing many of the "names” of New Zealand art. Some are well represented with strong works. From outside Christchurch Brent Wong is showing a delicate poetic ‘landscape classically composed with gentle sweeping horizontal land forms overhung by clouds of monumental’ plasticity. Wong is certainly a front-rank painter. Selwyn Muru’s vertical, "Rangi Papatuanuku landscape,” with light liquid organic forms in a dark flat landscape beneath a brooding black-blue sky, is a splendid example of a painter seldom seen this far south. Susan Cnaytor is repI resented by a fine example of her "Cloud Box” landscapes. last seen in her November, 1975, one-man show, and Hotere, also no stranger to Christchurch recently, is well represented with one of his “Dawn/Water Poem” works | after the writings of the ; poet, Bill Manhire The venerable figures of McCahon and Woollaston are present, as are Hanly, Thorbum, and Driver. Gretchen Albrecht is showing one of her Morris Louis-like works with sweeping fluid w-ashes of sensitively handled stained paint. “Low- ■ tide, mud flats.” ■ Amongst the locals] ! Hardy’s "Ejaculation,” with ! its gushing orgasmic water-] I falls in a convoluted land- ! scape, is impressive. The noise and agitation of that piece is put to rest by MacFarlane’s exquisitely calculated and refined “Cadena Series XII,” executed with the softest subtle tones upon I a dull pinkish red field. - Pearson. Coley, 'Easton, I Vivienne Bishop, and Helen ! Rockel are among a number ] of other 'ocal painters represented by mature works, but I rhe absence of many sub-

stantial names is perhaps significant. Sculpture is a medium one might not expect to find in a landscape exhibition. Rosemary Johnson we would expect, of course, with her arbitrary adoption of hill forms; here a corrugated pancake of beautifully patinated oronze. Edgar and Dawson are certainly two of the most provocative figures working in anv medium locally.

Edgar’s delicate construction, a very fine piece, relates thematically. JAMES AT LAYBYRINTH Bryan James is probably the only New Zealand printmaker working with the woodblock, and although he is given to periodic inconsistencies he is a strong and capable craitsman. He is showing three suites at the Labyrinth, none of which contain the lyricism and sensitive balancing of masses seen in the best of his last «how. An old suite (from 1972-73). “Christ Being Possessed by Death.” exploits r he medium with a strong feeling for the expressive possibilities of the woodblock. Another. “Harbour Cone with Cloud,” suggesting man’s oneness with his environment, is an interesting but not compelling series, and a third, “Dunedinites,” contains one print, a buxom floral old lady, daffodil firmly ciamped between purple lips, revealing some of the undeniable strength which James can call forth. —T. L. Rodnev Wilson, i