In case you haven’t yet discovered it, or it hasn’t been on your visit list for a while, CAN (Creative Arts Napier) is always worth a visit to their Byron Street Napier location. There is constant flow of exhibitions and events through the Napier community gallery with local singer/songwriter ‘Stretch’ performing his repertoire on Saturday April 10, tickets from the counter or Eventfinda.
In early March, local artists and friends, Diane Crompton and Danny Blackman present “Wild Springbok” and “Mad Englishman”, works reflecting the diversity of their cultures and personalities within their adopted country – New Zealand.
A call for entries for a Seaweek-themed driftwood sculpture competition that will feature items such as miniature waka, sailboat, rafts etc. made from found objects. Entries closing March 4; the show runs March 5-18.
March 12 – Richard Rogers opens in the Main Gallery with an exhibition that includes oil paintings and three-dimensional wall sculptures. Richard is a Gisborne local, born and raised in Gisborne where he taught art at Lytton High School for forty years. Over this time, he was painting, sculpting, travelling and visiting museums and galleries.
Richard is a practical man; he works with different materials and coerces them into the intended form. Such problem-solving requires creative thinking and as an artist he sees little difference whatever the media; it’s the process that varies and the possibilities the materials suggest – problem-solving is always a part of that.
Currently he is exploring a cubist style. His inspiration is the cubist philosophy of Picasso and is reflected in the exhibition. Richard is organic in his approach, “I am not driven to make works that are perfect and having the media talk in your work is part of the process,” he believes. “Art is what is important. Religion, cultural boundaries, rules and laws create restrictions, yet it is these boundaries and processes that fuel rebellions, new beginnings and the desire to be different and original.”
This exhibition features mixed media constructions, canvas and oils. Richard works in series, revisiting earlier themes to produce art works that are original and unique. “Pushing pigment and oil around as our fore-bears did, 30,000 years ago is grounding, and a real privilege to be connecting with our most primal being.”