Acclaimed artists create new work for gallery

Media Release

16 January 2008

Internationally acclaimed artists create new work for Govett-Brewster

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery’s forthcoming suite of exhibitions showcases new works by internationally acclaimed artists Francis Upritchard, Jayce Salloum and Bill Culbert with photographic portraiture by Len Lye also featured.

2006 Walters Prize winner Francis Upritchard is the Govett-Brewster’s current New Zealand Artist in Residence. The London-based sculptor’s exhibition rainwob i is presented from 1 March to 18 May.

In rainwob i Upritchard presents a psychedelic and visionary landscape, populated by strange sculptural figures and architectural ‘follies’. She also incorporates objects from charity shops and forgotten corners, giving them new lives and histories. At once primeval and futuristic, the exhibition suggests an array of ideas about time, hope and evolutionary change.

Born in New Plymouth, Upritchard has exhibited extensively in Aotearoa New Zealand, Europe and America since graduating from the University of Canterbury’s Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1997. After her Govett-Brewster residency, Upritchard will present rainwob ii at Artspace Sydney and at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne as part of an Artspace residency.

Vancouver-based International Artist in Residence Jayce Salloum is a media artist and cultural activist who has worked in installation, photography, new media and video since 1975.

His residency at the Govett-Brewster sees a continuation of his ongoing project untitled 1999-2008, a multi-channel video installation addressing social and political realities. His work engages with issues of globalism, imperialism and the notion of borders, documenting the lives and opinions of displaced peoples, activists and victims in places such as Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia. During his residency Salloum will develop new work exploring similar issues within a New Zealand context.

Salloum has exhibited in a wide range of international venues from small storefronts to institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Centre Pompidou, Paris and the 15th Biennale of Sydney. This exhibition, everything and nothing and other works from the ongoing project ‘untitled’, and recent fragments/works, will be exhibited at the Govett-Brewster from 8 March to 25 May 2008.

Eminent New Zealand artist Bill Culbert presents Groundworks from 8 March to 11 May. This significant exhibition comprises three installations not previously seen in New Zealand including two new works. Culbert’s installations re-energise the discarded debris of the everyday to form landscapes of poetic imagination. Working with materials such as light bulbs, lampshades, fluorescent tubes, plastic bottles, wine glasses and suitcases he explores the dynamic interplay between luminescence, space and visual perception.

Now based in London and France, Culbert travels extensively and exhibits widely in Europe, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Culbert was acknowledged for his outstanding contribution to contemporary art in this country and beyond in the 2008 New Year Honours.

The Gallery will also feature a selection of seldom seen works by celebrated New Zealand-born artist Len Lye (1901-1980) in A portrait gallery from 8 March to 18 May. Through Lye’s intriguing photographic portraits and work in a variety of media, the exhibition sketches a ‘portrait’ of the artist’s own reflections on the nature of the self.

The Govett-Brewster’s Artist in Residence programme is offered in partnership with Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki and with support from Creative New Zealand and is a cornerstone of its programming.

Francis Upritchard: New Zealand Artist in Residence
rainwob i
1 March – 18 May 2008
Jayce Salloum: International Artist in Residence
everything and nothing and other works from the ongoing project ‘untitled’, and recent fragments/works
8 March – 25 May 2008
Bill Culbert: Groundworks
8 March – 18 May 2008
Len Lye: A portrait gallery
8 March – 18 May 2008

Image caption: Francis Upritchard Amelia 2007

ENDS

Notes to editors:
- Francis Upritchard is in New Zealand from December until 3 March 2008
- Bill Culbert from 21 February until 15 March
- Jayce Salloum from 10 February until 9 March

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