10 exhibitions

to look out for in Canterbury in December

Warren Feeney recommends Christmas group exhibitions at the city’s galleries and an exhibition that reflects on the idea of isolation.

1. XMAS’21, PGgallery192, 192 Bealey Ave.

A group exhibition featuring new works by Joanna Braithwaite, Nigel Buxton, Rebecca Harris, Chris Pole, Aiko Robinson, John Reynolds and Terry Stringer, with the attitude of XMAS’21 perfectly represented by Braithwaite’s painting, Sea Change. Colourful and joyously rowdy, her parade of pelicans disguised as fish and fish as pelicans is both fantasy and commentary on current realities, yet equally a lively greeting and welcome to all. Dec 7-24.

2. Matthew Cowper, Isolation Paintings, Aigantighe Art Gallery, 49 Wai-iti Rd, Ma¯ ori Hill, Timaru.

Isolation Paintings is artist Matthew Cowper’s consideration of our current state of mind, with the chaos barometer on high in paintings about the coming apart of their subjects, assuming their own purposes and certainties. Isolation Paintings outwardly acknowledges Salvador Dali’s melting landscapes, but its concerns are more about making sense of the unanticipated realities of our lives. Dec 4 – Feb 27.

3. Toro Whakaara: Responses to our built environment. CoCA Toi Moroki, 66 Gloucester St.

Opening in November at CoCA in O¯ tautahi Christchurch and Objectspace in Ta¯ maki Makaurau Auckland, Toro Whakaara represents the work of 10 artists, five in each city. A¯ KAU, Edith Amituanai, Kirsty Lillico, Sione Faletau and Wayne Youle are at CoCA, installing works in response to gallery director Kim Paton’s proposition to reconsider our relationship with public architecture. Youle has installed three bollards and asks: are the bollards there to keep us safe, or to protect whatever is on the other side? Until Feb 5.

4. Unofficial Group Show, Fiksate, 54 Hawdon St, Sydenham.

Unofficial Group Show is compulsory viewing for anyone interested in the pulse of urban art, its increasingly fluid nature inhabiting both public and gallery spaces.

The exhibition highlights the best aspects of such developments, its attention upon familiar and new names. Unofficial Group Show features new paintings by TOGO, a graffiti artist reinventing his background on the street in formalist abstract paintings. Until Dec 24.

5. Artisans Christmas Market, Stoddart Cottage Gallery, 2 Waipapa Ave, Diamond Harbour.

A group exhibition by craftspeople making handmade items across disciplines that include ceramics, paintings, textiles, quilts and wooden toys. Among the many artisans is ceramic artist Jane McCulla, who moved to Aotearoa from Ireland in 2009.

McCulla’s ceramics are also influenced by Japanese clay slips and glazes, the association of her work with the local environment both technically impressive and heartfelt. Dec 3-28.

6. Peter Wheeler, Let Me Remember My Song In The Night, Jonathan Smart Gallery, 52 Buchan St, Sydenham.

Let Me remember My Song in the Night is a quote from Psalms, alluding to the subjects and ambience of Wheeler’s paintings, his images pointing to the dilemmas and doubts we all hold. The titles of his paintings and their potency as emotional triggers are complicated, visual conundrums about relationships between possible narratives, objects, space and colour. Until Dec 18.

7. Juergen Esperschuetz, Megan Balks, and Allan Hewitt, Soil, (Re) Cycling, Eastside Gallery, 388 Worcester St.

Soil, (Re) Cycling is an exhibition by three soil scientists, which may initially seem surprising – even though Leonardo di Vinci established a precedent 500 years ago. Soil, (Re) Cycling is simultaneously an aesthetic experience about the surfaces, materials and formal structure of their work and an encounter with a study of the natural environment, organic matter and minerals. Until Dec 18.

8. Michael Springer, To All the Ghosts that Haunt Us, Chambers Gallery, 80 Durham St, Sydenham.

It is impossible to see the paintings of Michael Springer without thinking of Birdlings Flat. Springer is a local resident and his paintings make all too tangible the experience of its shoreline and landscape. He comments: ‘‘Using paint as primordial sludge to summon forth unknown creatures from within this surreal landscape, I feed off the long-lived spirit energy that leaks forth.’’ Until Dec 18.

9. Group Exhibition, The Moon and the Manor, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu¯ , Cnr Worcester Blvd and Montreal St.

The Moon and the Manor isa welcome surprise from the Christchurch Art Gallery, but then, over the past two years they have exceeded expectations with every exhibition changeover. Among the highlights in the exhibition are Doris Tutill’s Flamingo design applique´ hanging and British painter and book illustrator Gertrude Demain Hammond’s A Reading from Plato, 1903. Until May 1.

10. Group Exhibition, 2021 Showcase, City Art Depot, 96 Disraeli St, Sydenham.

2021 Showcase features Saskia Bunce-Rath, Nick Harte, Francis van Hout, Clare Logan, Kathryn Madill, Christiane Shortal, and Dean Venrooy, from City Art. All exhibit new works revealing unanticipated facets of their practice. Harte divulges his absolute command of his materials of choice; acrylic and nail polish on

cardboard record covers. Madill’s works on paper are on a scale rarely seen by the artist. Shortal’s colour palette is heightened, adding to the authenticity and fabrication of her images. Until Dec 17.