New Exhibition Celebrates The Home

HOME

Season’s second exhibition, Home, explores the domestic environment as a key site of growth, learning, and sanctuary beyond the womb. The works featured are bright and sensuous; they carry rich stories, and celebrate whānau and play as vital elements of the good life at any age.

A painting by celebrated artist Robyn Kahukiwa asserts pride in whakapapa, drawing on the form of the family portrait and that of the poster. Using a childlike graphic style, Bronx-based Eilen Itzel Mena explores identity as a fertile and expansive field. Ron Te Kawa’s extravagant pictorial quilts encourage the sharing of pūrākau, through looking, touch, conversation, and performance.

Ruby Joy Eade’s quilts stand as object-diaries, recording experiences through stitched imagery and gathered fabrics. The sculptural furnishings of Gerard Dombroski engage in exaggeration and transformation, stimulating the imagination. Becky Bliss recreates Meccano pieces, forming them into wearable and wall-based pendants that call for the maximisation of self-discovery.

Home runs from 21 April to 14 May 2022. Season is open Wednesday to Friday, 11am to 5pm, and Saturday, 11am to 3pm.

SEASON

Season is a partnership between artist and curator Jade Townsend (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi) and writer and curator Francis McWhannell that formed during the extended lockdown of 2021. Based in downtown Tāmaki Makaurau, the gallery places a strong emphasis on curated exhibitions and public engagement.

The gallery is a place of storytelling. Francis notes, “Jade and I wanted to create a space in which a wide range of different people could connect with high-quality art from Aotearoa and abroad. We aim to present unexpected combinations of works in the spirit of celebration. Despite the disruptions of the past two years there is a great sense of energy and growth in the downtown area. It felt like a natural place for an art space that aims to be expansive and welcoming.”

DIRECTORS

Jade Townsend is an artist, curator, and writer whose CV includes residencies in London and Beijing, and collaborations with Hèrmes and Comme des Garçons. Last year, she organised the popular group show Whānau Mārama at Commercial Bay, partnering leading Māori artists—both early-career and established—with retailers to create a rich and stimulating experience. She also presented work at a host of galleries, including RM, Objectspace, and Masterworks, held a residency at Artspace Aotearoa, and occupied the mobile ‘Caravannex’.

Francis McWhannell is a writer and curator. He has produced essays for exhibitions at institutions like the Gus Fisher Gallery and the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, and has written for a wide range of arts and culture websites and magazines, including Art New Zealand, Art News New Zealand, the Pantograph Punch, and The Spinoff. He is curator of the Fletcher Trust Collection, one of the largest and longest-lived private collections of art in the country, and he has been judge for a number of art awards, such as the Eden Arts Art Schools Award and the Estuary Art and Ecology Award.

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