The apartment in which I’m staying in Auckland has a 42 inch plasma television set. One station the television receives is NHK, a Japanese no-ads broadcast.
Watching Japanese television here in Ponsonby is an intriguing experience even though I don’t understand a word of what is being said. I could watch it for hours.
I particularly like the weather maps, and here is a snap of one. It’s slightly soft partly because the image on the screen was not particularly sharp.
Must get back to TV now.
From this afternoon I am in Auckland and Wellington on business and may not be able to do any blogging until I return on Sunday afternoon. It depends upon time and access to a suitable computer, however I will do my best.
On Saturday evening I will be going to the opening of Telecom Prospect 2007 at the City Gallery in Wellington.
Curated by Heather Galbraith, this show is described in their publicity as being ‘an explosion of new art by New Zealander artists….drawing on the most vital and curious work made by New Zealand artists over the last three years.’
I’m sceptical of this claim because I’ve seen the list of artists in this show and find the work of some of those included to be conservative, and far from vital.
In recent years, not only has the number of curators in this country risen exponentially, but they have accrued considerable power over artists. A question I want to see asked is ‘just how good are these curators?’ Of course in a tiny country like this not many artists are going to ask this in public as it could have serious repercussions for their careers. But apart from artists, there doesn’t seem to be any serious commentary questioning in even a mild way, the quality of curatorial connoisseurship.
In the case of Prospect, there is also a statement that has been issued summarising the curatorial basis for the selection, unfortunately written in the usual hifalutin language that streams out of art galleries, and has earned art writing here the title of ‘the sick man of New Zealand literature.’ Here is the statement. Take a deep breath:
The exhibition is structured around three intersecting thematic clusters which have been derived from observations of and queries about current trends and debates: contemporary abstraction; a reconfiguration of the everyday and augmented reality. A connective thread weaving through the exhibition is an interest in collabortive practices and experiential dynamics between art works and their audiences.
Waitangi.
May, 2005
Today is Waitangi Day, a national holiday in New Zealand, to celebrate the signing of
the Treaty of Waitangi, an agreement made between the British and the Maori.
This is a view that I took of the very place where, in 1840, the Treaty’s first signatures were collected. Subsequently it was taken to other parts of New Zealand.
I was fortunate to have spent much of my early childhood in this area.
A commemorative set of stamps from my tiny stamp collection.Ubu Web.
Ubu Web: here is a very important new site.
Sunday Star Times
The cover of the magazine that accompanied yesterday’s edition of a national Sunday newspaper.
The original photo has had space added to the top and bottom, to make room for the typesetting.
Often editors take liberties with my images and crop them, which usually makes me rather unhappy. This is a very unusual case. The balance created by the designer seems well executed and I am pleased with it.
The photo was also printed inside the magazine.
The image immediately reminds me of musical score, which given that I am now studying the piano,and am involved with looking at music several times every day, does not seem surprising.
The Sunday Star Times has a current print run of 202,000 and an estimated readership of 650,000, so this is good coverage. I’ve had exhibitions at dealer galleries in the past where I’ve been lucky if there have been, over a 3 week run, 200 visitors.
Most importantly, perhaps, is that having a photo put out there like this is a morale booster, an uplifting way to start the year.
Luc Tuymans
New Plymouth has a great library. A few days ago I borrowed a new book on the work of Luc Tuymans b. 1958. Two things impressed me about it.
Firstly, how much I liked the work. Secondly, how much work I have seen in this country that is clearly influenced by him.
Of course, in a country that doesn’t even have the population of Atlanta, Georgia, it’s understandable that much of the art work made here will be cover versions of what is being acclaimed overseas. Another huge influence in New Zealand at present is the Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami b.1962.
