By Becky Bateman
Aratoi’s Summer exhibitions are a riot of colour, but the stories behind these works will surprise and inspire you.
Main Gallery exhibition ‘Never Be Seen’ is an exhibition of artists who utilise the tension inherent in perception – through the literal use of blue and green tones, the telling of histories hidden in plain sight, forgotten objects, slippages in language, and unnerving contrasts.
“The saying goes ‘blue and green should never be seen’,” laughs Aratoi Director Sarah McClintock. “As a rule of colour its origins are murky – but it likely relates to the fact that the colours sit next to each other on a standard colour wheel.”
On the opposite side of the Main Gallery, forces of nature Keren Chiaroni, Emily Efford and Cathrine Lloyd return to Aratoi with the exhibition ‘Dream Gardens.’
“Let your eyes adjust to the starlight, as you enter the garden and move around the room.
Take a seat in the dream chair; observe a flickering stream of images all dissolving into each other through the garden archway. Other plants, insects and birds can be found in unexpected places on the surrounding walls.” says Chiaroni.
Works from Lexicon and Where Do We Come From combine in Windows Gallery exhibition ‘Lacuna.’ These two bodies of work have been developed concurrently during the past five years from well-respected and popular Wairarapa artist Hélène Carroll; separate but also inextricably linked and enmeshed.
These works are a continuation of her ongoing preoccupation with the narrative of her family’s fractured past.
Aratoi’s Summer Exhibitions:
Never be Seen, 7 November – 2 March
Keren Chiaroni, Emily Efford, Cathrine Lloyd, Dream Gardens 7 November – 2 March
Hélène Carroll, Lacuna 7 November – 2 February
Mickey, A Pennant and a Wedding 26 October – 13 April
Provincial Insurance Brokers Little Jewels 16 November – 9 February
Tim McMahon, Jim Graydon, Peter McNeur, Six by Three 8 February – 4 May
Caption: Richard Reddaway, Aging (after Maria Lassnig), 2017, enamel paint on epoxy resin and fibreglass, audio components, from Never to be Seen.
