The fallout from the Mercy Pictures exhibition People of Colour continues to inflame the Aotearoa art world. Here, art writer and former gallerist Sarah Hopkinson attempts to understand the often contradictory values that produced Mercy Pictures, and what the tumult means for the future of the industry. In October I attended the opening of Mercy … Read more
The controversy over the People of Colour exhibition at Mercy Pictures shows how alt-right ideas can thrive in irony-steeped artistic environments, writes Amal Samaha. On Saturday, a gallery show in Auckland ended. The exhibition featured rows upon rows of flags, each on a relatively uniform rectangular frame, set in neat rows. All apparently normal, except … Read more
Megan Dunn looks back on this year’s Auckland Art Fair and what the fair means to New Zealand art galleries, buyers and artists. A curator friend recently said to me, “everyone loves to hate art fairs.” True, but only because everyone loves to go to them. In 2018 there were over 260 art fairs in … Read more
The Auckland Art Fair runs from May 2nd – 5th at The Cloud on the waterfront. Three critics – Megan Dunn, Mark Amery, Ioana Gordon-Smith – cast an eye over what’s on offer. On the opening night of the Auckland Art Fair one artist said, “It gets worse the further in you go.” Another told … Read more