freestanding screen, acrylic on wood, 4 panels painted both sides,
(click here to see other side)170 cm (h) x 168 cm (w)
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| Goddess Series#1 freestanding screen, acrylic on wood, 4 panels painted both sides, (click here to see other side)170 cm (h) x 168 cm (w) |
| The Goddess Series • New work by Gordon Crook Idiom Studio, 10 July – 4 August, 2004 Go to selected works The late Galvan McNamara, a former director of the Dowse Art Museum, has described Gordon Crook as "a consummate artist whose contribution to the visual language of this country is monumental." Gordon’s career began more than 50 years ago and his work can be found in New Zealand diplomatic posts around the world, and in major public and private art collections. His latest solo exhibition, which opened at Wellington’s Idiom Studio on 9 July, shows that he is as active and innovative as ever. The imagery in his Goddess series reaches back 7000 years to the Paleolithic age when, so Gordon’s researches have found, "there is no trace of a Father figure. The life-creating (and death-dealing) power seems to have been of the Great Goddess alone". The images in this exhibition, including a hugely pregnant horned goddess and her various animal manifestations, are taken from archaeological finds. Gordon discussed his fascination with these ancient images in a talk last year to the Museum of Wellington City and Sea, which appointed him one of the city’s ‘living treasures’. Gordon is presenting several of these images in a medium he has never used before - four- and five-folded painted screens, to be used as moveable room dividers. These were inspired, he says, by traditional Japanese lacquer screens, but have been updated for modern life. Rather than using up to 16 coats of laquer, his images are painted on both sides of canvas or plywood panels. These are then set into a fine framework of waxed wood made by Gordon’s longtime associate, Welligton framer and furniture maker Ron Barber. The exhibition also includes collaged images reproduced as wall tapestries (woven by Blenheim craft weaver Lesley Nicholls), and as high-quality laser copies, a format Gordon says is more durable than his original glued paper collages. The laser prints are displayed as individually framed sets of up to 32 images. This idea came to Gordon after he gave a set of working drawings to the buyers of one of his large paintings. "They framed each of the drawings and hung them on one wall. It absolutely knocked me over – they looked so good presented in that way." Click here for information on Gordon's previous exhibition at Idiom. and here for recent examples of Gordon's work: www.marynewtongallery.com |
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| The Goddess Series #11 woven tapestry, 115 cm x 50 cm. $2500
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