Updated photos

I've just gone through and updated some of the photos of works in the Exhibition blogs, the pieces with prices posted are still for sale.

If you happen to be in Wanaka over Labour Weekend, I have sent 3 pieces (Regrowth and 2 musically themed works on canvas; Vibes & Al and Stunt Double) down to be hung at Rocky Point Pottery, a venue involved in the Taste Of Taras Tour. They will also have pre-release copies of my wife's debut solo trumpet: TONIGHT ON TRUMPET.

Packing down...

It will be with some sadness that I venture into Mills Reef today and start to dissemble the Forest.

Though I consider Inan Dout a nicely cohesive body of work which I am happy to of offered, knowing this is the last time I’ll see them all together as a unit brings on some melancholy. (Hanging Family of trees back up over the hole in our lounge-wall may help though!)

But never fear! They will live on as a virtual family in this blog - as I intend to keep on bringing you tales from inside the forest. There are still stories that need to be told about some of the pictures and the unsold pieces will be going on new adventures…

FAMILY OF TREES

The price of Family Of Trees caused some interesting reactions on opening night, which is not surprising as it is a little higher than any of the other paintings prices.

The story behind it is this: I painted this painting for my wife Sonia in 2006, it has special significance to her and it hangs in our lounge.

During the time I was painting towards this exhibition she remarked how well Family Of Trees would sit amongst the new paintings but, she joked, the only way I was allowed to show it was if I put a price-tag of $35 000 on it... so I did!

The Red Giant

This one came with a wee poem:

.

.

The Red Giant stood firm

his long toes buried in composting cast-offs

drawing sustenance from the memories of his fore-fathers

.

The Red Giant stood tall

his arms extended, wielding massive living sponges

scrubbing the sky

THE IF NO SRIED SET - the secret revealed

This one had people scratching their heads and asking me what the heck I was going on about.
I just told them they weren't looking at it the right way and needed to change their point of view! Head-turning art....







I'd love to know the proper name for this effect, I usually call them 2-way paintings or bi-image art.
It works very well on corrugate, on the odd occasion I've done whole pictures this way, which are great for hanging in hallways - as you'll see one picture as you're walking up & another when you're walking back again (for instance once I did a sun/moon 2-way picture, one image for the morning and another as you head to bed in the evening, )










The added bonus with these words done this way is they all most make sense front on!

Some paintings have a story

There's a few stories that need to be told about some of the paintings, I'll start with CHELIFER (for no particular reason). I came across this little fellow in a story in a bee-keeping mag when I was helping a friend extracting honey. He's a pseudo-scorpion found in New Zealand (as well as other parts of the world) which caught my attention, as I never realised we had any type of scorpion here!

The story goes that a Katikati bee-keeper observed Chelifers killing and eating Varoa mites in one of his hives. Varoa mites have of course been causing all sorts of bother for bee-keepers world-wide, so finding a natural predator is kinda helpful!

The article in the magazine theorised that because the timber used in making hives has become so cleanly cut, with advances in milling technology, that there are now less crevices in the timber for the tiny beasties to make a home in.

So in the end it was about wood, which is why this painting is part of the exhibition.

OPENING NIGHT

What a great night! Thanks to all those who came along, shared beautiful wine and music and took the journey inside the forest.
We had stands of bamboo everywhere to create the illusion and people even had to push their way through an alley-way of it to get inside!
The atmosphere was just right and reactions to the art was great.

I have posted pictures of all the pieces with details included of the paintings still for sale.
A huge thank you to the awesome team who help me set up, to the irrepressable Self Righteous Brothers and to the staff of Mills Reef.

Cheers Grant.