Final week: Richter & Parker at City Gallery Wellington
Press release:
Final week: Gerhard Richter
and John Parker exhibitions
Closing Sunday 1 December 2002
"Absolutely amazed at both the work of Richter and Parker" Comment from the Visitors' Book
Two outstanding exhibitions at City Gallery Wellington are now drawing to a close. Gerhard Richter Survey presents a
rare opportunity to view the work of one of Germany's most influential and important contemporary artists, while John
Parker*Ceramics provides an innovative presentation of the work of leading New Zealand ceramicist and theatre designer
John Parker.
These exhibitions have proved very popular, with large groups of students particularly visiting the Gallery to see the
works. Visitor figures to both exhibitions are very high, and with one week to run City Gallery is predicting 14,000
visitors will have visited the exhibitions over their six week presentation.
Gerhard Richter Survey features 27 key works selected by the artist himself and gives an insight into the artist's
creative phases: from the 'photo-paintings' produced in the 1960s to the abstracts painted in the 1980s and 1990s.
Richter was honoured earlier this year with a major retrospective exhibition at the highly prestigious Muesum of Modern
Art, New York. His focus, throughout his 40 year career, has been to explore the very nature of painting itself and the
act of representation, through both painting and photography. City Gallery Wellington is the sole New Zealand venue for
this exhibition.
John Parker*Ceramics is a dynamic exhibition of around 350 works, including a large selection of the elegant and
pristine 'White Ware', for which he is most well known. A self-confessed 'Renaissance man', Parker has used his parallel
skills as a theatre and lighting designer to create a display in which a body of new ceramic works are bathed in a
continually changing pattern of coloured light. John Parker*Ceramics is the first major exhibition of the artist's work
since 1990, and the first time his work has been presented in a public gallery on this scale. It encompasses 35 years of
his career. Gerhard Richter Survey is accompanied by an illustrated exhibition catalogue. John Parker*Ceramics is
accompanied by a major publication, published by City Gallery Wellington in partnership with David Bateman Ltd. This is
the first in-depth exploration of John Parker's work, and features an illustrated 'Technical Notebook' in which Parker
shares over 35 years of accumulated practical skill and expertise with the reader. Both books are available from City
Gallery Wellington.
Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith, the major survey exhibition which has seen McCahon described as the 'Van Gogh of
Australasia', opens to the public on Sunday 8 December. This exhibition is the largest touring exhibition ever of New
Zealand's most important 20th century painter, and arrives in the capital direct from the prestigious Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam. City Gallery Wellington is the first venue on its Australasian tour. City Gallery Wellington is open daily
from 10am to 5pm.
Gerhard Richter Survey is a touring exhibition presented by Germany's Institut fur Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for
Foreign Cultural Affairs) in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes Wellington. John Parker*Ceramics is
generously supported by Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, with support from Magnum Mac. City Gallery Wellington is
managed by the Wellington Museums Trust with major funding from the Wellington City Council. Publicist: Anne Irving T:
04 801 3959 / F: 04 801 3096 / E: anne.irving@wcc.govt.nz ENDS