Aldridge and Youle show at Suite

Media Statement
For immediate release

Monday 27 April 2009

Aldridge and Youle show at Suite

Suite will open exhibitions by James Aldridge and Wayne Youle on Friday 8 May that provoke unique and uncanny perspectives of the current global condition.

Sworn to the dark by Swedish-based British artist James Aldridge and A Darker kind of light heartedness by New Zealand artist Wayne Youle (Ngapuhi, Ngati Whakaeke, Ngati Pakeha) unflinchingly confront the emotional, cultural and political phantoms that permeate contemporary life.

James Aldridge’s work explores his interest in the natural world of his immediate environment, the forests of Småland in Southern Sweden, as well as the ideas and imagery surrounding extreme heavy metal music.

Crows and skulls are a constant feature of Aldridge’s potent, dark, seductive landscapes, which are influenced by Renaissance landscape painting and nineteenth-century French scenic wallpaper. Aldridge recently completed a large installation work for the Tate Modern in London – this exhibition at Suite is his first show in the Southern Hemisphere.

Wayne Youle’s exhibition follows hot on the heels of the very successful Where You Stay? (for TVNZ’s New Artland) at Suite work where 100 participants were tattooed with an outline of New Zealand that also marked their turangawaewae.

Youle is well known for his works that challenge bicultural stereotypes. He has shown widely, including in Techno Maori: Maori Art in the Digital Age (2001) at City Gallery Wellington and Young Maori Contemporary Artists 2004-05 at the Sergeant Gallery in Wanganui.

The two exhibitions will show from Saturday 9 May – Saturday 30 May 2009.

ENDS

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