The Central Art Gallery

ARTIST TALK at The Central tomorrow.
Saturday 27th July, 1pm.
All welcome.

Join us in welcoming Pete Wheeler as he discusses with us the intuitive nature of his art practice and the inspiration and techniques behind his latest body of paintings titled ‘How to Slay a Dragon.’

ARTIST TALK at The Central tomorrow.
Saturday 27th July, 1pm.
All welcome.

Join us in welcoming Zara Dolan as she shares with us insights into her art practice and the inspiration and processes behind her latest body of Monotype prints titled ‘Chroma.’

has arrived! And today is a hive of focussed activity in the gallery as we hang Pete’s exhibition ‘How to Slay a Dragon,’ showing concurrently with ‘Chroma’ by , and opening tomorrow, Friday, @ 5:30pm. All welcome!

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

A successful hang yesterday with and now looking forward to the opening of her exhibition ‘Chroma,’ showing concurrently with ‘How to Slay a Dragon’ by , this FRIDAY, 5:30pm. All welcome!

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Pete Wheeler's exhibition 'How to Slay a Dragon' will open on Friday 26th July, 5:30pm, alongside Zara Dolan's exhibition 'Chroma.' Exhibition guarantee: more colour to brighten up your winter!

We will be closed this coming week for installation, reopening Friday 5:30pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Zara Dolan's exhibition 'Chroma' will open on Friday 26th July, 5:30pm, alongside Pete Wheeler's exhibition 'How to Slay a Dragon.' Exhibition guarantee: more colour to brighten up your winter!

We will be closed this coming week for installation, reopening Friday 5:30pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

In ‘Home Banana Leaves,’ Salome Tanuvasa cleverly situates the viewer on the ground looking skyward, eyes adjusted to a late afternoon sky, throwing foreground foliage into dark silhouette. A scene and perspective so clear in its delivery that, over the past month, so many of our gallery visitors have been transported to a time and place of their own experience. Whether remembering home or holiday destination, their outwardly expressed sentiments have been joyful and uplifting and a privilege to share.

‘Home Banana Leaves,’ 2024
Acrylic on canvas
1200 x 1000mm

We are open until 4pm today, Saturday 20th July.

We will reopen on Friday 26th July, 5:30pm, for the opening of our next exhibition.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Often reflecting on what it means to create a visual language or on her mark-making, Salome Tanuvasa thinks of her work as moments of truth-telling influenced by the immediate environment around her. Discovering the paintings of German painter, sculptor, designer, and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943), Salome drew inspiration from Schlemmer’s use of colour and shape for ‘Mum & Dad’s Garden at Night.’ This colourful suite of paintings has lifted spirits during some seriously grey days in Ōtautahi over the past month!

We are in the last two days of Salome’s show and will be open until 6pm tonight. Pop in on your way home from work, or on your way out to dinner!

Gratitude and photo credit to light-seeker for the beautiful portrait of Salome in her Tāmaki Makaurau studio.

The Central Art Gallery is open Wed/Thu/Sat, 10am-4pm, and Friday, 10am-6pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Salome’s parents’ garden is a place full of connection with many of its plants coming from the gardens of extended family members. Plentiful in edible fruits, banana; orange; avocado; and choko (from the gourd family and pronounced ‘soko’ by her parents), Salome draws inspiration from the garden’s bounty. Black silhouettes, influenced by her early evening photographs, show the outline of backyard trees and foliage and—as seen in ’Soko Hill’—the family clothesline.

Pictured:
‘Soko Hill,’ 2024
‘Under Banana Leaf,’ 2024
Both works are acrylic on canvas, 1200 x 1000mm.

Salome Tanuvasa’s exhibition ‘Mum & Dad’s Garden at Night’ is on at The Central Art Gallery until Saturday 20th July.

We are open Wed/Thu/Sat, 10am-4pm, and Friday, 10am-6pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Pink-injected cumulus clouds and a vivid end-of-day blue sky soar above the silhouette of a backyard hedge and tree. The low perspective of ‘Dusk,’ coupled with its sunless foreground, places the viewer firmly on the ground gazing skyward. Influenced by reference photographs of her parents’ garden in the evening light, Salome Tanuvasa teases out important elements to her narrative and paints them with exaggerated clarity. By elevating an everyday scene, Salome offers the viewer pause to reflect on a precious snippet of time and place.

Pictured:
‘Dusk,’ 2024
Acrylic on canvas
1200 x 1000mm

Salome Tanuvasa’s exhibition ‘Mum & Dad’s Garden at Night’ is on at The Central Art Gallery until Saturday 20th July.

We are open Wed/Thu/Sat, 10am-4pm, and Friday, 10am-6pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Colour and warmth abound at The Central, perfect for a winter’s day pick-me-up!
We are open 10am Wednesday to Saturday and close at 4pm, except for NEW late closing on Friday—now open until 6pm.
Swing in after work on a Friday on your way out to dinner, or wait for the traffic to calm down and sail home afterwards!

Installation photos of Salome Tanuvasa’s exhibition ‘Mum & Dad’s Garden at Night,’ on until Saturday 20th July.

Single artworks pictured:
‘Red Plant,’ 2024
‘Oranges and Leaves,’ 2024
Both artworks are acrylic on canvas, 1200 x 1000mm

Open: Wed/Thu/Sat, 10am-4pm. Fri, 10am-6pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Propped against the side of the house, Salome’s Dad’s ladder is used like shelves storing the latest harvest of oranges. Colours in ‘Ladder Shelf Oranges’ are intensified with a filter of thick warm light from a setting sun. “I have paintings that reference evening photographs of my parent’s backyard (…) documenting objects and plants that caught my eye. This then translates to shapes and colours I admire.”

Pictured:
‘Ladder Shelf Oranges,’ 2024
Acrylic on canvas
1200 x 1000mm
And
‘Soko Hill,’ 2024
Acrylic on canvas
1200 x 1000mm

Salome Tanuvasa’s exhibition ‘Mum & Dad’s Garden at Night’ is on at The Central Art Gallery until Saturday 20th July.

We are open tomorrow, Friday 28th June, 10am-2pm (we will be closing early for a Private Function).
Gallery open again on Saturday 29th June, 10am-4pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Thank you to everyone who came out on a cool winter’s evening to welcome Salome Tanuvasa to her first solo exhibition in Te Waipounamu. Salome thoroughly enjoyed the experience of meeting and speaking with many who attended, returning home to Tāmaki Makaurau with ‘an overflowing cup.’ Over the coming four weeks we look forward to sharing Salome’s paintings and practice with you.

Pictured:
Salome Tanuvasa with friend and peer Dr. John Vea alongside her work ‘Home Banana Leaves,’ 2024.

NEW hours: Wed-Sat, 10am-4pm.
From 5th July, open Fridays until 6pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

Join us this Thursday evening in welcoming Salome Tanuvasa to The Central Art Gallery for her first solo exhibition in the South Island. With vibrant hues and dark silhouettes, Salome paints with a poetic voice of her connection to family and place.

Exhibition opening, Thursday 20th June, 5:30-7:30pm, all welcome.

NEW hours: Wed-Sat, 10am-4pm.
From 5th July, open Fridays until 6pm.

Graduating in 2001 from Otago Polytechnic, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in sculpture, Hannah Kidd’s early works were created from materials such as fibreglass and cast bronze. Hannah’s desire to manifest ‘big stuff…strong enough [to] stand up,’ led her to working for a Methven-based engineering firm and mastering a new way of making. Particularly well-known for life-size representations of people and animals, Hannah’s intrigue with the world around her continues to offer an inexhaustible source of inspiration and reference material.

This weekend is the last weekend to view Hannah’s giant kōwhai pods and seeds with her life-size hare in her solo exhibition ‘In the Night Garden.’ Don’t miss seeing this impressive body of work in person!

The Central Art Gallery is open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For all enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

With one ear to the ground, Hannah Kidd’s carefully constructed ‘Hare in the Night V’ depicts a mischievous creature ready to bolt, crafted from a skeleton of steel rod and a shell of corrugated iron. Hannah’s sculptures start as sketches that turn into outlines. By using these as references she then works upwards and outwards, cutting and bending the steel rod into a three-dimensional frame and welding the many pieces of iron together over top.

Hannah Kidd
‘Hare in the Night V’, 2024
Corrugated iron and steel rod
500 x 305 x 350mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/hannah-kidd-in-the-night-garden/overview/

Once again it is an absolute privilege to visit an artist in their studio where the hard yakka and creative magic happen. Hannah’s studio is a well-deserved and hard-earned four-bay workshop, complete with log burner—a necessity out in Alford Forest and the foothills of the Southern Alps. A workshop brimming with everything needed to create her recognisable iron, steel, and earthenware sculptures, Hannah works alongside her assistant Sue, three very friendly dogs—Bucket, Olive, and Dave—and a surplus of very healthy houseplants (much to Hannah’s surprise). When her hands aren’t busy cutting and welding iron sheets and steel rod, they are happily occupied sculpting clay and preparing objects for the kiln—two very different creative processes and media but both requiring extreme heat in realising their finished forms.

The Central Art Gallery is open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

What appear at a distance like uniform daubs of yellow paint are, up close, a myriad of individually sculpted golden orbs hung with the utmost care and attention to detail. These varying orbs are representational of gargantuan kōwhai seeds, satin-like to the touch in an array of yellows like their real counterparts, and nestle snuggly in the palm. Hannah Kidd (Ngāti Toa) responds adeptly to her observances of everyday life, elevating our natural world and, in this installation ‘Kōwhai Seeds (After Romany Eveleigh),’ offering pause to reflect on both the literal and metaphorical meanings behind her work.

Hannah Kidd
‘Kōwhai Seeds (After Romany Eveleigh),’ 2024
Glazed earthenware

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

TA DA! Pete Wheeler’s 2020 untitled oil on paper work features as our unframed work for the rest of May and into June . New work by Pete is coming in July, stay tuned! DM the gallery for more details.

As kaitiaki (guardian) of her tiny block of Waitaha land, artist Hannah Kidd (Ngāti Toa) has witnessed the regular nightly devastation of her newly-planted natives. This vegetation is preyed upon by both native and introduced species, but in particular the hare—and a group of them have just settled into the gallery space…

Hannah Kidd
‘Hare in the Night III’, 2024
Corrugated iron and steel rod
430 x 545 x 225mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/hannah-kidd-in-the-night-garden/overview/

Hannah Kidd’s ‘Kākano Takirua’ towers over the gallery space in a larger-than-life depiction of kōwhai pods. Measuring in at approximately 4.9m from tallest tip to tail, this piece is a compelling example of Hannah’s extensive skillset and quiet observance of native flora.

Hannah Kidd
‘Kākano Takirua’, 2024
Corrugated iron and steel rod
4910 x 1500 x 300mm
Dimensions variable

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/hannah-kidd-in-the-night-garden/overview/

Hannah Kidd's latest exhibition 'In the Night Garden' is now on show following a fulfilling install. Hannah’s work will be open to view until Sunday, June 16th. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery and sharing these magnificent works with you.

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/hannah-kidd-in-the-night-garden/overview/

This is the last weekend to view Karl Maughan's latest gardenscapes before some of the artwork leaves the gallery. Take a moment to enjoy the richness of these jewel-coloured works in person.

Karl Maughan
‘Mata Close,’ 2024
Oil on canvas
1000 x 1000mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/karl-maughan-new-paintings/overview

It is the last week to view Karl Maughan’s new paintings in the gallery. Karl’s passion for the garden motif began in art school, where he embarked on painting his mother’s garden. Both of Karl’s parents were avid gardeners and he found he was often sharing their love of all things botanical.

Karl Maughan
‘Princes Drive,’ 2024
Oil on canvas
1000 x 1000mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/karl-maughan-new-paintings/overview/

On approach from a distance, Karl Maughan’s ‘Golf Road’ transforms from a defined and familiar scene to a mass of variable expressive brushstrokes. As colour cuts into colour, with minimal blending on the canvas, Karl creates a richness and intensity of hue that adds to the illusion of a place recognised but not entirely placeable.

Karl Maughan
‘Golf Road,’ 2024
Oil on canvas
1000 x 1000mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/karl-maughan-new-paintings/overview/

Through the use of motifs, alluding to her cultural heritage and making commentary on ancient tradition and the effects of colonisation, Lonnie Hutchinson often fuses the political and the personal in her artwork. The pictured powder-coated steel combs are an example of her unwavering solidarity and dedication to indigenous female discourse. Lonnie’s comb sculptures continue to tease out feminist concerns from an indigenous perspective and refer to discord regarding western perceptions of beauty.

Lonnie Hutchinson
‘Comb (Tomcat),’ 2022
Powder-coated steel
200 x 200mm

Lonnie Hutchinson
‘Comb (black),’ 2009-17
Two-pot paint on steel
980 x 1200 x 135mm

Lonnie Hutchinson
‘Comb Taro Queen (Canary),’ 2022
Powder-coated steel
200 x 200mm

Lonnie Hutchinson
'Comb (Tiberius),' 2022
Powder-coated steel
200 x 200mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/artists/lonnie-hutchinson/overview/

'Muritai St’ is a compelling example of Karl Maughan's skilful use of colour to portray the depth and three-dimensionality of his recognisable gardenscapes. Where some painters may use dark hues to allude to the full depth of a work’s composition, Karl employs lighter hues in the background, providing the illusion of aerial perspective. In doing so, the artwork’s gardens are seemingly anchored in a perpetual summer's haze.

Karl Maughan
‘Muritai St,’ 2024
Oil on canvas
1000 x 1000mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/exhibitions/karl-maughan-new-paintings/overview/

Dick Frizzell, renowned New Zealand artist and long-term friend of Karl Maughan, is one of our represented artists here at The Central Art Gallery. Adjunct to Karl’s current exhibition, the gallery has many wonderful works of Dick’s currently available to view in our print drawers and display racks. The piece featured in this post, ‘Tiki Aakuanei - Today's Tiki,’ is a recent screenprint of his and can be viewed upon enquiry.

Dick Frizzell
‘Tiki Aakuanei - Today's Tiki,’ 2023
Screenprint
555 x 450mm
AP

We will be closed Thursday morning in observance of ANZAC Day. We will be open from 1-4pm on Thursday afternoon. Friday-Sunday, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/artists/dick-frizzell/overvi

Karl Maughan’s ‘Manawatu River’ presents a conceptual juxtaposition of his iconic cultivated garden against wild trees and a moving body of water. In the curation of this world, Karl perhaps hints at a new path emerging in his practice—one that acknowledges the uncontrolled aspects of nature as well as the carefully crafted ones.

Karl Maughan
‘Manawatu River,’ 2022-2024
Oil on canvas
1500 x 1500mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/karl-maughan-new-paintings/

Karl Maughan’s ‘Seymour Ave’ portrays the warmth of a summer’s garden foregrounding an azure body of sun-flecked water. Through patient layering of paint the water reveals itself, peeking through the lushly rendered garden. Water is a relatively new addition to Karl’s practice, ebbing and flowing through his more recent works.

Karl Maughan
'Seymour Ave,' 2024
Oil on canvas
1000 x 1000mm

We are open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm.

For any enquiries please email [email protected] or message us on social media.

https://thecentral.co.nz/karl-maughan-new-paintings/