Two New Exhibitions At The Physics Room

Two New Exhibitions At The Physics Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dear Paul. Thanks for your email. Usually the Japanese Government doesn’t release hunt details. Their quota for summer is around 850 Minke Whales and 20-50 Fin Whales. Kind Regards, Anna P.
Paul Johns
12 August–6 September 2009

Opening preview: Tuesday 11 August 2009, 5.30pm

Like the ‘Dear John’ letters of old, Johns’ project heralds bad news and grim times ahead. Indeed, whether respected as a matter for foreign policy and diplomacy to resolve, or as one that recommends direct action and intervention whenever possible, the issue of whaling in contemporary times stirs the blood in more ways than one.

Offering a formal platform for the presentation of art works that extend and endorse the work and perspectives of New Zealand artists, Paul Johns has commandeered The Physics Room’s mission and mandate in the service of a timely consciousness-raising exercise.

Within the gallery Johns has collated a formal arrangement of material motivated by the continued harvesting of whales for ‘scientific’ purposes. Some elements of the exhibition are available for sale, with all proceeds raised from these composite parts going directly to Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd. Additionally, over the next three weeks series of posters produced by Johns will hit the streets spreading his concerns beyond the gallery walls and inviting people to take a renewed stand, in whatever form that might be most significant for them.

Dear Paul… is an open hearted gesture, the outcome of which is unknown. It is a polite cry, a wake up call and potentially a call to arms.

Paul Johns lives and works in Christchurch. Recent solo exhibitions include: All is well, 64zero3, Christchurch (2008); Paul Johns, 64zero3, Christchurch (2006); la femme, The Kiosk, Christchurch (2006); A Perfect Childhood, McNamara Gallery, Wanganui and Campbell Grant Galleries, Christchurch (2004); Noughts, crosses or tiddlywinks, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin and High Street Project, Christchurch (2004); Yes it is a painting, RM 401, Auckland (2001) and This lifeless box may be full of energy, The Physics Room, Christchurch (2001).

In 2005 Johns was awarded the Tylee Cottage Residency in Wanganui and selected group exhibitions he has participated in include: SCAPE 2008 Biennial of Art in Public Space, Christchurch (2008); Spaghetti Junction, 64zero3, Christchurch (2008); HOT, 64zero3, Christchurch (2007); Ficciones, 64zero3, Christchurch (2007); Telecom Prospect, Wellington (2004); Mr and Mrs Pink's Fabulous Collection, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin and The High Street Project, Christchurch (2004); Dimensions of, High Street Project, Christchurch (2003) and Reaching Out: Calling New Age Power, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington; High Street Project, Christchurch and Mori Gallery Sydney (2003).

For further information on this exhibition please contact The Physics Room on +64 3 379 5583 or email physicsroom@physicsroom.org.nz

The Physics Room receives major funding from Creative New Zealand/Toi Aotearoa.

L-shaped counter
Georgie Hill
12 August–6 September 2009

Opening preview: Tuesday 11 August 2009, 5.30pm

Proffering a world of clouded surfaces and shifting facades, Georgie Hill’s exhibition L-shaped counter promises visitors to The Physics Room a pleasantly beguiling experience. Depicting objects and environments that carry with them an underlying sense of the memorial, Hill inscribes a series of intimate, architecturally framed spaces.

Acting as an elaborate ruse for the senses, Hill’s serene internal enclaves appear heavy-hearted and time-worn. With each interior space accommodating a relic or keepsake of some kind, the drifting sense of temporality within these unfamiliar realms proves both hypnotic and haunting as unseen currents and influences play across the walls of these disarming, dreamlike rooms.

Enrobed with subtly feathered and fluid lines, the delicacy favoured by Hill in her depiction of these ambiguous and ever-evolving chambers invites examination of the works at close range. Although frozen in time, the walls in these spaces quiver with life as elements merge and morph and the regularity of their surface camouflage threatens to dissipate. Establishing a tangible sense of uncertainty with an air of remembrance that holds some kind of promise, Hill invites us to invest in the subtlety and symmetry of each scene’s various details.

“In these works I explore the carving out of private space and the traces of oneself left on chosen spaces, and on the objects within them that are held dear. Through these objects and places we escape from time, and construct boundaries to declare what is public or private, what can be seen and what must be hidden. The key quality of domestic space is its capacity to be controlled and contained. Intimate spaces are protective and are very revealing in their nature; they can be sites of honesty where all guards are let down and secrets are held, or sites of escapism where shrines of self-deception and obsession are built.”

Georgie Hill graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 2002 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Hill’s recent solo exhibition Watchtower was exhibited at Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland last year and works of hers were also included in Ivan Anthony’s presentation at the Auckland Art Fair 2009. Selected group shows and other projects: Every colour by itself, Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland (2007); House and garden, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland (2002); Pre-memorabilia, Rm 401 Gallery, Auckland (2001) and Decoration and crime, Enjoy Gallery, Wellington (2001). A selection of works by Hill will also be on show in Cloud 9, a forthcoming exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery later this month. Georgie Hill is represented by Ivan Anthony in Auckland.

The Physics Room receives major funding from Creative New Zealand/Toi Aotearoa.

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