Next Exhibition is for the 10th anniversary @ Kaan Zamaan…
For a preview
http://kaanzamaan.co.nz/less-is-more-artists-celebrating-10-years-kaan-zamaan/
Present Exhibition :
Chris Wilkie @ Kaan Zamaan
“Unsettled Settlers”
In recent years Wilkie has included a human element in his works. This stems from relic photographs found in an old log cabin of the Murrell family in Fiordland. They have been exhibited in shows such as “Deep Lake, Dark Waters” (Southland Museum and Art Gallery”, and Oamaru’s Whisky Gallery. They led to the “Unsettled Settlers” of Kaan Zamaan in 2012.
They are partly from old postcards from Colonial times, but are also created fictions: Wilkie places legends over his deliberately damaged paintings, such as “Aunty Mary had a Maori Baby!”, sometimes to ask questions about those times, sometimes merely to create puns, for he enjoyed the humanity of the original images.
Chris Wilkie won the prestigious ILT Art Award in 2011, for his large oil “A Pathway of Light” which dealt with the death of a friend, but finding hope at the end of a long journey. It was purchased by the Mayor of Southand Frana Cardno subsequently.
The artist is returning to Tai Tokerau / Northland in 2012, to continue his ramblings through our rich land and rich shared histories.
Barbie
Eleven of Chris Wilkie’s “Settler” paintings, inspired by old photographs found in a cabin in Matapouri , are presently hanging in the gallery. These paintings, done in oils with polyurathanes & fire, are on recycled timber from old boats and other found wooden objects, giving the paintings texture, depth and atmosphere.You can feel the hardship and pain, the early settlers must have felt .
Chris has many works in national and international collections, including ten pieces in the Wallace Foundation, Auckland. For more images go to www.kaanzamaan.co.nz/chris-wilkie/
Dad retired to Gore