Karamea comes to Nelson

PRESS RELEASE - Karamea comes to Nelson

This month, Lisa Chandler has transformed the McKee Gallery in The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu into the spectacular Karamea landscape with her exhibition – ‘Beyond Karamea’. The exhibition runs from 16 April to 4 May.

Beyond Karamea is inspired by the rugged environment of the northern West Coast and features 18 stunning new acrylic works by Lisa Chandler. All of the works reflect Lisa’s understanding of colour, texture and form and Lisa has continued to develop her style, demonstrating increased confidence with her materials and process.

Lisa believes that it is important for an artist to immerse themselves in the landscape and as part of the process of developing this series Lisa undertook plenary painting on location, an enjoyable but challenging task with the sandy and salty breeze.

The works in this exhibition vary significantly in subject matter but naturally include the iconic nikau palms that the region is famous for. Others depict people enjoying their holidays, old farm buildings and a series of four depict an exciting study of late afternoon light created by the sun setting over the Tasman sea. “I was attracted to the contrasts on the coast, from warm and cool colours, soft and hard edges, through to the light and shadows and I’ve enjoyed developing this series. The sweeping, curving, ever-changing shapes created by the tides also captured my imagination” says Lisa.

Lisa’s also manages to convey responsiveness to the environment and an eye for detail with two works showing texture of the bark of a nikau palm close-up. These paintings have a strangeness that is at once natural and fantastic, and change appearance when viewed from different positions.

The paintings also affirm the message depicted in Lisa’s earlier exhibitions that in order to live sustainability with the environment we need to experience it. “We don’t know what we might lose when developments are proposed unless we have been there ourselves and I feel that is really important for people to interact with the New Zealand landscape” says Lisa. “The enjoyment and feelings that are invoked by a visit to Karamea arise because people cannot simply pass through, instead they must choose to visit this special part of New Zealand”.

Lisa has demonstrated these feelings through four of her artworks, which depict chance encounters with visitors to the region who are relaxing, fishing or walking through the landscape. The objective of these paintings is to allow the viewer to share the experience that the visitors in the paintings are enjoying.

Lisa Chandler lives and works in Ruby Bay and is one of Nelson’s up and coming artists.

“I really enjoy working with the texture in the canvas and dry-brush to develop the surface. I build up four to five layers in a direct style straight onto the canvas to create freshness and immediacy in my work. I use acrylics which are thick and buttery in consistency and have wonderful rich colours”.

This will be the only solo exhibition of Lisa’s work in 2008 and, with 18 paintings by one artist it is a significant exhibition that everyone who loves the New Zealand landscape should visit.

This exhibition follows on Lisa’s successful exhibitions over the last three years on the Cobb Valley, Kahurangi National Park and the Abel Tasman National Park. Works are for sale and priced between $700 and $1800.

ENDS

© Scoop Media