From a Ronnie Van Hout take on The Breakfast Club to James Oram carving a rendition of his own face out of soap, Christchurch Art Gallery’s show of new video art in response to Covid-19 isolation is worth championing, writes Mark Amery. Commissioning artists in uncertain times makes sense. For, uncertainty for artists is typical … Read more
Māia Abraham reviews an exhibition currently showing at the Christchurch Art Gallery bringing to the fore the rich moving-image practices of Māori artists. On a table in a room of Māori Moving Image: An Open Archive sits written material about Māori artists and their practices. It barely fills three archive boxes. In this exhibition we … Read more
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogs at the Christchurch Art Gallery. “The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin toss (1972). In a collection of short single-take videos, American artist William Wegman participates … Read more
ART-TASTIC is a big heavy beauty of an activity book, written by Sarah Pepperle and produced by the Christchurch Art Gallery. We think it’s marvellous and so do the judges of the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Keen to try it out? Here are four ART-TASTIC spreads guaranteed to keep … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Jo Blair, founder and director of Brown Bread – a marketing and communications agency from Christchurch that focuses on championing the arts, philanthropy and social good. ONE: How did Brown Bread start and … Read more