I WISH...

BRENT HARRIS

“There are three paintings with peaks in them in this Auckland show,” says esteemed painter / printmaker Brent Harris from his Melbourne home. He is often described as one of Australia’s greatest artists, but Harris is originally from Manawatū. “Growing up in Palmerston North, on a glorious clear day, I could stand on the roof of the house and see Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu. That’s what those peak paintings refer to.” Comprising paintings, prints and drawings made over 40 years, Brent Harris: The Other Side is the first career-spanning survey show Harris has mounted in his homeland. The works have serious voltage: their clean lines and crisp colour planes somehow suggest a tangle of complex emotional states sparking beneath the surface. “I’ve lived in Australia since 1981, but I’m often drawn back to my childhood in my work, even though my father was an abusive monster. After he died in 2016, I decided I should reconnect with New Zealand, and this show is part of that process.”

I WISH, TEN YEARS AGO, I’D KNOWN…

That one can’t say “no regrets” without indicating a little swerve in the direction of regret. I don’t have any regrets, until I start thinking about it.

I WISH I COULD SWAP LIVES WITH…

I don’t want to swap my life with anybody. It would have to be an artist if anybody, and most of the artists I admire are dead. Most often when you scratch the surface of any artist there’s always an issue driving them. The human condition is a bit of a mess generally, and I think I’d rather just get on with managing my own mess.

I WISH EVERY DAY I COULD EAT…

Well, Bluff oysters! When I was growing up in Palmerston North, my father, once a year, would buy a couple of large tins of Bluff oysters – I guess they were sent up from Bluff. They were lightly crumbed and pan fried in butter, and I’ve only liked cooked oysters ever since.

THE PERSON I WISH WAS ON A BANKNOTE…

Is irrelevant! Since Covid I don’t have cash in my wallet, just my card. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but if pushed I would choose Helen Clark, as I have always admired her.

THE NOISE I WISH I COULD NEVER HEAR AGAIN IS…

The crying child that has just been made comfortable in the seat right behind me on a long-haul flight. I travel regularly, but only cattle class. That moment when we’re all corralled in the holding pen and you’ve sighted the tiny person that you may be sharing close cabin-space with for the next 20-odd hours, well, that’s always tough, but I don’t envy those parents, either.

I WISH I COULD SPEND A SUNDAY WITH…

My grandfather on my mother’s side. My grandparents had a weekender at Foxton Beach, about half an hour’s drive from Palmerston North, and they eventually retired there. As a boy I sometimes got to stay with them and my grandfather would help me catch lizards in his garden, and under the rocks and in the sand under the pine trees that skirted the property.

I WISH NEW ZEALAND WAS MORE…

I have no answer on this one. I am a dual citizen but I don’t vote in New Zealand. I feel I would have to have my feet on the ground to participate in the processes of change and growth in any country.

I WISH I COULD LIVE IN…

New York, or some other large city with several great art museums. London or Madrid would also fit that bill. I do like living in Melbourne, but on a Sunday when I’ve just had enough of being in the studio, I say to my partner “let’s just nip down to the Met for a few hours”, even though The Metropolitan Museum of Art is in New York.