Retrospective Exhibition by Marian Fountain

Press, 25 February 1989, Page 15

Retrospective Exhibition by Marian Fountain

“Retrospective Exhibition” by Marian Fountain at the C.S.A.’s North Gallery until March 5. Reviewed by Pat Unger. Marian Fountain’s show at the C.S.A. is a tremendously small exhibition. Tremendous in its variety and virtually all the pieces are small to earring size. The 94 items include jewellery, bowls, containers, plaques and ornaments. Made mainly from bronze, they also boast lapis-lazuli, silver, gold, jade, turquoise, cornelian onyx and glass. Stylistically they vary from shallow reliefs to free-standing objects. Christ crowned with thorns, fertility symbols, whimsical animals, fairy story dragons — strange birds and hieroglyphs are cast for ever in metal and carry overtones of museological artefacts or religious relics. The content is disconcertingly diverse from a visual point of view, due in part to being a retrospective exhibition covering eight years. They are also the product of work-

ing in Auckland, London, Paris and Rome (where the artist travelled with the help of a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant). Each work is struck as an individual piece, not as a segment of splinter of a serial whole. Pressure to stay within defined and approved contemporary boundaries, which often plagues New Zealand’s emerging artists, seems to be absent here — to the artist’s advantage. Plaques to the universal impulse of growth, motherhood and destiny are interspersed with elegant pieces of antiquary and myth. Some resemble illustrations taken from art books on early sculpture and symbolism. Unlike Richard Reddaway who turns his human (male) figure into sculptural abstractions for emotional and architectural states, Fountain demotes her human (female) to decorative additions. The basically more important and formal shapes of threedimensional ovals, squares, coinage and fre-

ize carry her adornment.

The coins and medals could celebrate winners of heroic events — underwater swimming, honours in the Kowhai Protection League or first place in the Body Beautiful (or Fanciful) Society. Plaques, heads, torsos, natural shapes, stick figures and birdmen are images often in heavenly but subordinate repose with the angels. Roosters in “Top” are a charming reminder of France as is “Bell” of Israeli design motifs. The various “Innocenti” drawings and paper and metal reliefs are strong and imaginative. They blend impressively nostalgia for Greco-Roman charm with Germanic individuality of feature. These objects are generally finely crafted and sensitive. They memorialise in miniature England and Europe’s great themes with an added personal and Pacific input. The show is a pleasure, if an undemanding one, to view.