GARRY CURRIN

GARRY CURRIN This Day, That Hour

27th August - 21st September 2011

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

milford galleries queenstown 9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 qtown@milfordgalleries.co.nz

1. GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour (2008) oil on

n canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1013 x 1826 x 33 mm

2. GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour I (2011), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 837 x 1520 x 33 mm

2. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour I (2011)

3. GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour II (2011), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 837 x 1520 x 33 mm

3. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour II (2011)

4. GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour IV (2011), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 837 x 1520 x 33 mm

4. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, This Day That Hour IV (2011)

5. GARRY CURRIN, Takemitsu's Garden (2010) oil on

n canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1515 x 1836 x 38 mm

6. GARRY CURRIN, Various Distances Apart, Kaipara (2010), oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 1018 x 1500 x 38 mm

6. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, Various Distances Apart, Kaipara (2010)

7. GARRY CURRIN, This Distance (Circa 1915) I (2008), oil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 936 x 1203 x 60 mm, painted image (v x h): 640 x 930 mm

7. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, This Distance (Circa 1915) I (2008)

8. GARRY CURRIN, This Distance (Circa 1915) II (2008), oil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 925 x 1200 x 60 mm, painted image (v x h): 637 x 930 mm

8. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, This Distance (Circa 1915) II (2008)

9. GARRY CURRIN, Landscape Without Len Lye I (2008), oil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 924 x 1200 x 60 mm, painted image (v x h): 640 x 930 mm

9. DETAIL VIEW GARRY CURRIN, Landscape Without Len Lye I (2008)

The works collected in Garry Currin’s latest exhibition ‘This Day, That Hour’ exemplify the mastery that we have come to expect from the hand of this astonishing painter. Currin’s veiled landscapes are darkly radiant; they gleam with hidden riches. Rather than laying out familiar forms of land and sea and sky, the viewer must discover the works little by little, moving from one subtle signpost to another.

The splintered screen and molten golds of ‘Takemitsu’s Garden’ provide multiple resting surfaces for the gaze. Flowing tone-on-tone colour seamlessly moves the eye from one section of the painting to another, each time allowing quiet contemplation of the work. Currin’s use of chiaroscuro does not create a harsh contrast but utilises blurred lines and soft, dark hues to suggest shrouded depths within the picture plane. Inspired by modern Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, Currin says of this work that it is ‘an experience and a moment around [Takemitsu’s] enigmatic soundscapes’(1). The tonal layering in Currin’s paintings is likewise enigmatic, giving only a little away to a casual glance, but rewarding the patient viewer.

‘Various Distances Apart, Kaipara’ uses a darker palette than ‘Takemitsu’s Garden’ but Currin allows burnished gold and yellow to gleam through the mauve-greys and rich blacks that cloak the painting’s surface. Once again forms are indistinct – do we look out from a boat prow, a wharf, a headland? Subtle darkened edges in this, and other works, are reminiscent of a screen, a device which concurrently reinforces the two-dimensionality of the painting and prompts us to recall the depths that the artist creates on the picture plane. This paradoxical configuration underlines the exquisitely balanced tension and ambiguity inherent in all of Currin’s works.

From Currin’s ‘Occupied Territory’ series, ‘This Day, That Hour’ is described by the artist as ‘an instant in a moving landscape’(2). Fluid brushwork dominates the centre of the painting, suggestive of a maelstrom or a vortex frozen in time and creating a discernible sense of unease. Visual relief is provided in a bleak, almost featureless sky and the still mountain form on the horizon. In many of his works, Currin carefully places visual markers to draw the eye and we see here a bright spot circled as if to indicate a starting point from which to proceed, a small island of calm amidst the swirling surface.

For the first time, we have on display works on paper from Currin and, in contrast to the paintings, their visual language speaks more directly. In ‘Landscape without Len Lye’, a 2008 work, Mt Taranaki is clearly defined and recognisable, even without the work’s title pointing the way.

Working in monotones, Currin’s textured, painterly brushwork creates a brooding landscape in which the familiar mountain form becomes only a part of a larger, fractured, and uneasy environment.

A painting by Garry Currin is not a fixed mark, but a mutable entity; it varies with light, perspective, mood, allowing space for the viewer to bring themselves to the work. He evokes a land that is overlaid with a sense of the spiritual, but does so without bombast or agenda. Currin’s work is not for the impatient, but will reward with riches those with time to look, and then look again.

(1) Currin, Garry. Note to painting, 2011 (2) Ibid

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

1

This Day That Hour (2008)

15,000

2

This Day That Hour I (2011)

11,000

3

This Day That Hour II (2011)

11,000

4

This Day That Hour IV (2011)

11,000

5

Takemitsu's Garden (2010)

17,000

6

Various Distances Apart, Kaipara (2010)

14,000

7

This Distance (Circa 1915) I (2008)

5,750

8

This Distance (Circa 1915) II (2008)

5,750

9

Landscape Without Len Lye I (2008)

5,750

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

GARRY CURRIN b. 1952, lives Warkworth

This Distance (2008/09)

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 10 times since 1995 in addition to winning the ‘people's choice' vote in 2004. In 2008 Currin won the BMW Bonnet Artist grand prize at the BMW art awards and in 2011, a merit in the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award. 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 queenstown

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

This Day, That Hour, milford galleries queenstown Smoke and Dreaming, Whitespace, Auckland 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

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

Garry Currin 2011 CV P a g e |2

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

2000 1999

1998

1997

1996

1995 1994 1993 1981 1977

Winners Show, Westshore Arts Centre, Auckland 100 x 100, McPherson Gallery, Auckland 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 queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz