Local artist selected for New Zealand Art Show

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 15 July

Local artist selected for New Zealand Art Show

Contemporary photographer Liz Blackwell of Christchurch has been selected as one of 500 artists to exhibit in the New Zealand Art Show at Wellington's TSB Arena from Friday, 29 July to Sunday, 31 July.

The show introduces emerging artists to the public and sells their works at affordable prices. This is the second year that Liz Blackwell has been selected to exhibit.

Her works this year are mainly contemporary landscapes of found surreal objects in an area of coastal Christchurch that holds a distinct untouched world of bach kitsch. Owners of baches keep alive their idiosyncratic style by collecting and placing found objects within their private secluded clusters of temporary homes, escaping from the daily reminders of a broken city.

Liz says, "My photographs are meant to be interpreted by the eye of the viewer. They simultaneously compliment and confuse the obscure with the surreal". As temporal phenomena become transformed through diligent and critical practice, the viewer is left with an impression of only the edge of this close personal world of the select few sought after historical cluster of baches and their owners.

This is the show's 8th year. Every year more than 1000 artists submit their works in the hope of being selected by the organizers, the NZ Affordable Art Trust.

Established in 2004 as the New Zealand Affordable Art Show, the last seven years has seen the event grow in size, reputation and quality. The exhibition showcases around 3000 artworks by some 500 artists; it is the largest exhibition of its kind in this country. Since its inception it has sold around $5 million worth of art, returning over $4 million back to artists - making the show a significant contributor to New Zealand's arts community.

The New Zealand Art Show is governed by the New Zealand Affordable Arts Trust (NZAAT). Its vision is to promote New Zealand artists and help them access resources and opportunities to further their development, and to promote the appreciation of New Zealand Art to the wider public.

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