Séraphine Pick - White Noise
The Dowse Art Museum
Lower Hutt
27 June - 17 January
The Dowse is pleased to present White Noise, a major exhibition of new and recent work by New Zealand painter Séraphine Pick.
The works featured in White Noise have often begun as images sourced from the internet. By transforming these almost random search engine results into
emotive paintings, Pick explores both the value of the painted image and the sociological and psychological impact of
the internet.
Pick’s new work mines the distortions of reality produced by the web. Drawing from her own life experience as a teenager
of the 1970s and a mother at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Pick uses the internet as a starting place to
explore ideas and areas such as the collective conscious, popular culture, belonging and misrepresentation.
A Wellington based painter of national significance, Pick is one of the most successful artists of her generation. Over
the last two decades Pick has become well known for her lyrical painting, in which she explores subject matter such as
dreams, memory and psychology that dip in and out of everyday life. While addressing contemporary issues, her painting
comments on the act of painting itself—not only its relevance today—but also its place in art history through movements
such as late nineteenth century Symbolism and early twentieth century Surrealism and Post-Impressionism.
This exhibition reflects The Dowse’s mission to support local artists to flourish, providing a platform for Pick to make
a new and important statement about her work, building on the recognition she has received through exhibitions and
publications in the first 20 years of her career. Visitors to the exhibition will experience the familiar euphoria of
Pick’s lushly painted works, whilst also discovering a new edge to her practice.
Stay tuned for the release of a new book published by The Dowse to accompany this exhibition, featuring all the works in White Noise and essays by exhibition curator Sian van Dyk and art writer Megan Dunn.