Art seen

Quadrant Gallery, "Celebr4te", cast and blown glass by Katie Brown, Gem Chapman, Craig Columb, Matt Hall, Isaac Katzoff, Annabel Menzies-Joyce and Lou Pendergrast.

[1] Craig Columb's Dual Cut Series.
In celebration of the Quadrant Gallery's fourth anniversary, seven artists are exhibiting a total of 30 inimitable glass pieces as part of the "Celebr4te" exhibition.

There is something ethereal about glass art; it seems to capture the otherwise immaterial qualities of light, air and the elemental, transitory shapes formed by nature.

The works in this exhibition range from vases and bowls to figurative pieces and the artists express both conceptual and perceptual interests in an array of arresting colours and shapes.

The beauty of a glass object is found in its impulsive responsiveness to changing environmental conditions.

The perplexing optical effects generated by light striking the lustrous surfaces (effects that multiply when examined with unwarranted closeness) induce the awe of a child watching a masterful magician for the first time.

Ancient techniques of both glass blowing and glass casting have been used to create sophisticated modern works which, when brought into this contemporary art space, exude stylish equanimity.

A Gallery, "Sector 8", Gary McMillan

[2] Number 23 from "Sector 8", by Gary McMillan.
The four greyscale paintings that comprise "Sector 8" seize the walls of the A Gallery with distinctive temporal intensity. They are realist works, taken from films that the Auckland-based artist has made for the sole purpose of later painting from them.

The paintings produced are thus "life-stills" rather than portraits or urban landscapes in the categorical sense.

The idea (now successfully accomplished) was to capture natural movements amid visually intelligible, but inconclusive, narrative scenes.

Often, in film, one is most captivated by that which is not revealed, and while the beholder is stunned by McMillan's scrupulous detailing and resolute compositional awareness, they are also left speculating about the wider sequence from which these scenes have been plucked.

This focus is emphasised by both the titles of the works (Scene 5, for example) and the title of the exhibition itself - "Sector 8" - which alludes to the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi film genre.

Curator Jay Hutchinson was at liberty to orchestrate the works at will and, given the sequential nature of "Sector 8", he should be given credit for arranging the exhibition in a way that has so smoothly endorsed the integrity and completeness of each piece, while upholding their function in creating a coherent and stimulating whole.

Milford Galleries Dunedin, "Time and Tide", works by Neil Frazer [3] Neil Frazer's Wavelength diptych.
Frazer is a well-renowned, award-winning artist who has lived and worked between New Zealand and Australia for most of his life.

The body of work he presents at Milford Gallery requires a preparatory moment in which one might stand back and absorb the vastness of his paintings, before moving ahead for a more detailed exploration.

The genre is landscape painting but the subject, more specifically, is the tidal behaviour of the sea. The boisterous character of waves beating against craggy rocks is abruptly contrasted with tranquil pools silently reflecting juxtaposing rock formations.

Ultra-thick impastoed oil paint eloquently conveys the robustness of the physical landscape, while the swirling colours (which seem to meet for the very first time before us) create something of a live show for the viewer.

The white skies depicted throughout produce a cooling suggestion of timelessness, but because the paintings persist as tactile painted objects, there is a psychological overlap between the present moment and permanence.

It is Frazer's ability to thoroughly expose and delight in his medium - almost to the point of abstraction - while simultaneously creating convincing spatial and pictorial illusions on a grand scale that make his works not only vigorous and compelling, but manifestly alluring to the escapist within.

- Franky Strachan