GARRY CURRIN

GARRY CURRIN Various Distances Apart 5th - 30th March, 2010 www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Milford Galleries Dunedin 18 Dowling Street

(03) 477 7727

info@milfordhouse.co.nz

1. GARRY CURRIN, Fire at Ephesus I (2010) oil on

n canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 755 x 855 x 33 mm

2. GARRY CURRIN, Fire at Ephesus II (2010) oil on

n canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 764 x 840 x 33 mm

3. GARRY CURRIN, Various Distances Apart III (2010)

oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 803 x 900 x 35 mm

4. GARRY CURRIN, Meditation on Orpheus III (2008-10)

oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1018 x 1527 x 33 mm

5. GARRY CURRIN, Smoke and Dreaming I (2007-10) o

oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 715 x 1125 x 33 mm

6. GARRY CURRIN, Smoke and Dreaming II (2010) oi

il on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 765 x 1118 x 33 mm

7. GARRY CURRIN, Various Distances Apart I (2008-10)

) oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 716 x 1120 x 33 mm

8. GARRY CURRIN, Smoke and Dreaming (2010) oil on board, pane

el (v x h x d): 470 x 595 x 44 mm, painted image (v x h): 243 x 378 mm

To suggest Garry Currin is a magician wielding paint is to touch lightly upon his unrivalled capacity to combine as one the notionally disparate. We see abstraction and (apparent) elements of photo-realism inextricably linked (Smoke and Dreaming, 2010). In other works, (Various Distances Apart I, 2008-10 and Fire at Ephesus II, 2010), architecture and atmosphere unite the linear and organic. Currin takes us to and then inside a world which is part-fiction, part-fact and out of this comes myth, event and the majesty of his considerable painterly accomplishments.

He references the past – the ancient Greek city of Ephesus and the site of the Temple of Artemis – by building sensations in his work to accompany pictorial information. In every work there is something coming or something has happened.

He uses devices such as implied moving screens. He speaks of ruin and the travails of civilisation with stairs leading down and in, or by inserting the grid-like superstructure of an incomplete or destroyed building (Various Distances Apart I, 2008-10) and leaving this open to the elements it is part of.

Currin’s narrative language is metaphysical in character with the roles of darkness and light orchestrating how our eyes journey inside each work. He presents man’s presence and quests as endless spiritual journeys with the landscape as touchstone.

Whether headlands, tidal flats, colonial landscape or intersecting mountains, Currin particularises the place and locates the viewer. “Meditation on Orpheus III” is imbued with the profound sense of being down on the beach itself. As the painting opens up out of the veiled background islands emerge and a suggested path of buttery light walks across the water to the viewer’s feet.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

1

Fire at Ephesus I (2010)

7,000

2

Fire at Ephesus II (2010)

7,000

3

Various Distances Apart III (2010)

8,000

4

Meditation on Orpheus III (2008-10)

5

Smoke and Dreaming I (2007-10)

9,000

6

Smoke and Dreaming II (2010)

9,000

7

Various Distances Apart I (2008-10)

9,000

8

Smoke and Dreaming (2010)

3,000

14,000

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

GARRY CURRIN b. 1952, lives Warkworth

Various Distances Apart I (2008-10)

His paintings are "internal landscapes. They have a physicality about them like landscapes, but they also have something more. People see things in them that I don't see". (1) “Currin’s work is …made major by a scope that encompasses not only the edgy physical attributes of its subject, but also the metaphorical implications, so that Currin actually captures the power, the darkness and the malevolence of the very thing that he paints.” (2) “The monochromatic and the atmospheric way forms in his paintings melt into one another exude a sense of mystery.” (3) “He paints as if mixing rare elixirs with rancid oils. He’s a lyricist in paint, coaxing moody landscapes out of tangled streaks and veils of colour. He’s a quester in search of lost time, remembering things past: the fall of shadow at a certain time of day, the spiritualised sunburst, the cloud-splitting vista at dusk.

“His paintings are phantasmagoric because they’re less actual landscapes than they are atmospheric reconstructions… At times his paintings seem to well up from the surfaces they’re painted on like secretions. They’re tinged with a morbid edge, a Gothic resonance verging on the melodramatic.

These are the talismans of skewed memory. Currin teases and disrupts your attempts to establish reality of place by, say, triangulating a few landmarks. … He offers you inventions which tease and tantalise with their elusiveness. The landmarks fluctuate, dissolving back into the paint before re-emerging as cloud, or surf, or waterspout.” (4) Born Wanganui, New Zealand 1952. Currin has been exhibiting his work since 1976. The time he devotes to painting and his exhibiting programme has been gathering momentum in recent years. Currin was a finalist in the Wallace Visa Gold Award in 1999 and a finalist in the James Wallace Awards in 1995, 1997, 1998, and in 2004 when he won the 'people's choice' vote. His work is included in various significant collections.

1. Garry Currin, Artist Statement, 2009 2. Paul Field, ‘Seascapes capture power’, Otago Daily Times, 14 June 2001 3. Charmian Smith, ‘Shifting Changing World Inspires’, Otago Daily Times, March 27, 2003 4. David Eggleton, ‘Garry Currin The Painter as Salvage Artist’, Art New Zealand No. 94, Autumn 2000

Garry Currin 2011 CV P a g e |1

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

GARRY CURRIN b. 1952, lives Warkworth SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 2010 2009 2008 2006 2005 2003 2001 2000 1999 1997 1995 1994 1993 1980 1976

Various Distances Apart, Milford Galleries Dunedin New Work, Whitespace, Auckland Inland, Milford Galleries Dunedin This Distance, Statements Gallery, Napier Occupied Territory, milford galleries auckland Quotation of Dream, milford galleries auckland Sea Narratives, milford galleries queenstown Old Language, milford galleries auckland Apertures, Milford Galleries Dunedin Pages from the Book of Balls II, McPherson Gallery, Auckland Seacliff Narratives, Milford Galleries Dunedin New Works, McPherson Gallery, Auckland New Works, Statements Gallery, Napier New Works, Peter Muirs Petford Gallery, Auckland Pages from the Book of Balls, Drawings Gallery, Auckland Impressions I, Drawings Gallery, Auckland Impressions II, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Auckland Emotional Landscape Series, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Auckland Conflict of Conscience, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Auckland Psychological Luggage, Devonport Gallery, Auckland From Dawn Till Dusk, Mollers Gallery, Auckland The Escaped Gnome, Mollers Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2011 2010

2009

2008 2007 2005

2004

2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

Large Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin The Earl Street Journal., milford galleries queenstown Drawings, Annual Drawing Show, NorthArt Gallery, Auckland Small Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown Mahurangi Group at Matakana My City, Group Show, Whitespace, Auckland Wild Swans, Rayner Brothers Gallery, Wanganui Drawings (Annual Drawing Show), NorthArt Gallery, Auckland Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown Private Viewing, milford galleries queenstown 10 Big Paintings, NorthArt Gallery, Auckland Occupied Territory II, A Fine Line Gallery, Matakana Five By Three, Milford Galleries Dunedin Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown The Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown This Earth: Currin, Edwards and McFarlane, milford galleries auckland Southern Landscape Dunedin, Milford Galleries Dunedin The Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown Group Show, Statements Gallery, Napier Transit of Venus, Milford Galleries Dunedin Transit of Venus, milford galleries queenstown Devonport Connections, Flagstaff Gallery, Auckland Overview IS AS: ‘Landscape As Metaphor’, Milford Galleries Dunedin Meeting Point, Flagstaff Gallery, Auckland 3 C’s, The Depot, Auckland Winners Show, Westshore Arts Centre, Auckland 100 x 100, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

Garry Currin 2011 CV P a g e |2

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

1998

1997

1996

1995 1994 1993 1981 1977

Eight Devonport Artists, Statements Gallery, Napier Beyond Beauty, Peter Muirs Petford Gallery, Auckland Milford Galleries Dunedin Small Works Exhibition, Drawings Gallery, Auckland Spiritual Themes in Art, St. Georges Church, Auckland Terrestrial Forces Exhibition, Statements Gallery, Napier Westshore Exhibition, Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland ASA Working Members Show, ASA Gallery, Auckland Ida Eise Award Exhibition, ASA Gallery, Auckland Art Auction Show, Outreach Gallery, Auckland Spiritual Themes Exhibition, St. Georges Church, Auckland Copy Art Exhibition, Outreach Gallery, Auckland Small Works Exhibition, Drawings Gallery, Auckland Group Show, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Auckland ASA Working Members Show, ASA Gallery, Auckland Ida Eise Award Exhibition, ASA Gallery, Auckland Ida Eise Award Exhibition, ASA Gallery, Auckland ASA Working Members Show, ASA Gallery, Auckland ASA Working Members Show, ASA Gallery, Auckland Ida Eise Award Exhibition, ASA Gallery, Auckland ASA Portrait Exhibition, ASA Gallery, Auckland Group Show, Mollers Gallery, Auckland Group Show, Mollers Gallery, Auckland

AWARDS 2011 2010 2008 2007 2005 2004 2003 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1995 1992

The NZ Painting and Printmaking Award, Merit Award 19th Annual Wallace Awards, Finalist BMW Bonnet Artist grand prize at the BMW art awards Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Award, People’s Choice Award Cranleigh Barton Drawing Award, Finalist Cranleigh Barton Drawing Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Visa Gold Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Wallace Award, Finalist Westshore Exhibition, two Merit Awards

COLLECTIONS The Wallace Trust Collection Private collections New Zealand, Europe and Australia

BIBLIOGRAPHY 2009 2008 2007 2006 2004 2003 2000

Benson, Nigel, ‘Dark Lands’, Otago Daily Times, August 28 2008 John Daly-Peoples, ‘The Art Of BMW’, New Zealand Business Review, October 16 2008 ‘Paintings Mesh With Poetry’, Art News, Summer 2007 Howard, David, The Word Went Round, (with eight Garry Currin paintings accompanying the title poem), Otago University Press, 2006 Amery, Mark, ‘13th Wallace Awards Travelling Show, Dowse Museum’, Dominion Post, 2004 Smith, Charmian, ‘Shifting Changing World Inspires’, Otago Daily Times, March 27 2003 Eggleton, David, ‘Garry Currin: The Painter as Salvage Artist’, Art New Zealand, Autumn 2000

Garry Currin 2011 CV P a g e |3

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz