New exhibitions at Orexart
On Measuring the Ocean (2013) by Peter James Smith, oil on linen with hardwood stretchers, 1220 x 1830 mm.
Grey Study (2013) by Peter Wichman, oil on canvas, 650 x 1015 mm.
Orexart has been exhibiting emerging and established artists from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific since 1990. In this latest offering, Melbourne-based artist Peter James Smith and New Zealand artist Peter Wichman will be exhibiting at the gallery during November.
In December 2012, Peter James Smith, artist, mathematician and writer, boarded The Spirit of Enderbyon an expedition to the wild deserted impasse of the Southern Ocean. 1000km south to Macquarie Island then through the sub-Antarctic waters to New Zealand’s Campbell Island and the Auckland Island group. This exhibition is Smith’s record of a trip into that impasse, and of history, bravely fought, fiercely loved.
In Peter Wichman’s still-life studies everyday objects are used over and over again to insist on their very ordinariness. At the same time, their value is increased by repetition, since repetition invites the viewer to look past the surface at the object’s special clarity and appeal. Their connectedness in clusters begins to reveal more than the individual parts, and when brought together with cut flowers, these objects also hint at meanings to do with the nature of human existence and human needs, inhabiting the ephemeral and the everyday.
Both exhibitions open on Wednesday 6 November and run until Saturday 30 November.