Exhibition Visits

Today I visited a couple of exhibitions at the Michael Lett Gallery in Auckland.

In the main gallery Campell Patterson was showing.

Campell Patterson, piano. Oil on Canvas, 450x350mm

I enjoy the thick layering of paint here. There is suggestion of process with the thin lines which grid its surface. I was left questioned how those thin lines were achieved, what was Campell's process here? Tiny, tiny strips of masking tape? String wrapped in masking tape? Due to the title, the pink shape in the middle amalgamated into the form of a grand piano in my mind. Which I am fully aware could be an idiosyncratic quirk of my own. Why piano? Were the lines representative of keys? Of musical notes on a score? Some sort of in depth literal translation of. a song played on the piano? In a way, it is irrelevant to me because the material process itself is the interesting part of this work, for me.

Campell Patterson, half heart 1, Oil on Canvas. 1200x900mm

Another of Patterson's work which I enjoyed.

I also viewed Imogen Taylor's work at Michael Lett.

Imogen Taylor, Alone Time. Acrylic on hessian, 800x 1500mm.

Imogen Taylor, Mother Nature. Acrylic on Canvas 1500x1200mm.

Imogen Taylor, Nook. Acrylic and ink on Canvas 1200x1500mm.

I enjoyed Taylor's use of colour and her installation, which played nicely on the surrounding architecture, and even geometry within the paintings. I have always enjoyed large scale paintings like these. You have one experience at a distance, another a mid distance and close up reveals the paintings secrets. Taylor does this well.