I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn
Vivian Lynn, Salve, 1976.
I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn
25 October 2008 – 15 March 2009
The Adam Art Gallery is proud to present a long-overdue survey of the work of artist Vivian Lynn. Curated by Christina
Barton and Laura Preston, this exhibition canvasses the diversity of Lynn’s practice and brings to light works that have
not been seen for many years.
Vivian Lynn will be well known to many as the artist who used human hair in a series of large-scale installations in the
1980s, such as Guarden Gates (1982) and The Gates of Goddess: A Southern Crossing attended by the Goddess (1986). These are landmark works in New Zealand’s art history for their trenchant re-coding of materials and subjects
that aimed to expose the binary logic of western patriarchal culture and its consequences.
Perhaps less well known is the fact that Vivian Lynn has been a practising artist since the late 1950s, working across a
range of media – painting, drawing, printmaking, book-making, and installation – to develop a complex body of work that
asks fundamental questions about the nature of being and the problematics of representation, especially if one is a
woman.
Curator Christina Barton believes that Lynn’s work should be better known, both for its technical virtuosity and its
critical examination of the beliefs, values, ideas and assumptions that structure society and inform how women and the
environment are treated.
“In refusing to develop a signature style and in her continual attempt to develop new modes of socially engaged
practice, Lynn is an artist for our times,” she says.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a public programme of talks, readings and a film screening to expand on the issues
raised by Lynn’s practice. This programme begins with an exhibition floor talk and conversation between the artist
Vivian Lynn and Adam Art Gallery Director, Christina Barton, on Saturday 8 November at 2pm. All welcome.
OPENING
Friday 24 October 2008, 6-8pm
ENDS