Mata-onerua, 2024

2024, Onerua collected from home in Tāmaki Makaurau, plywood, tanalised glass

Mata-onerua speaks to the process of composting in an art context. Onerua or compost is a soil enhancer that aids in the reciprocal nature of giving back to the whenua. As a reiteration of a previous kaupapa Hei whare onerua, this work presents another cycle of life. The onerua containers were informed by windows of a whare to view onerua as a cultural landscape. Mata as translated to eyes or face, that reflects tangata and whenua. As a gift of onerua to Whakatu, Mata-onerua presents the cyclic transformations of life and foundations of whakapapa.

Sculptural installation artist Java Bentley, speaks to hangarua as a way of connecting to the cyclic nature of all things and thus whakapapa. Acknowledging the natural world as interconnected and that is constantly evolving gives an opportunity for tangata to also change and adapt as kaitiaki. Focusing on hangarua materials, Bentley visually presents the whakapapa of materials to discuss the relationships tangata have with our everyday landscape.

As a site-specific artist, she is informed by the environment and community. Recently completing her Masters in Māori Visual Arts at Toioho ki Āpiti in Palmerston North in 2024, she continues to give back her mentors Karangawai Marsh and Kura Te Waru Rewiri.

Java Bentley (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāpuhi, Samoa, Pākehā)

Website javabentley.com

Instagram @javabentley

The Genius, 2023

Embroidery cotton thread and linen

In about 1986 our family bought our first microwave. We made a long family trip from the North Shore out to East Auckland to buy it second-hand. It was massive by today's standards and had wood grain sides, The National Genius. When we got home it was plugged in and we cooked something, my brother and I stood in front of the display counting down out loud from 5 minutes until we were bored.

Pretty soon we started to cook almost everything in it - whole chickens, circular trays of muffins, chocolate cakes and Milos. For years we used the timer function for various tasks around the house that were not microwave related. In the same sort of sense that you can preserve your family memories through a sampler, I have been inspired to preserve my family history by creating a long stitch embroidery of this key part of my childhood.

Erica van Zon (b. 1979) currently lives and works in Wellington. Since completing her Masters at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2007 she has exhibited in artist-run spaces, private galleries and public institutions. Solo exhibitions include: Salad (Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland 2023), Deep Deep Icy Blue (Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington, 2022), Peppermint Twist (Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington, 2018), Verdant Geometry (Scape, Christchurch, 2018), Opal Moon, Local Lime (Sarjeant Gallery and Objectspace 2017-2018), Coffee Perhaps (The Dowse Art Museum, 2016), Dogwood Days (Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2014-2015); The Light on the Dock (City Gallery Wellington, 2013-2014).

Erica van Zon is represented by Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland.

Portrait of an artist as mouldy bed, 2023

Various textiles, stuffing, thread, metal fixtures and MDF.

Bio/blurb:

Writing about Portrait of the artist as mouldy bed is, as they say, like dancing about architecture (cool!)

But seriously folks

Bio/blurb:

You are an artist and writer from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, now living in Mawhera where you work (goddammit!) on your immersive queer sculpture project Gloria of Greymouth. You are represented by Bowen fucken Galleries.

(hmm, feels too much like "I will sell this house today" from American Beauty).

Third option:

Bio/blurb

Sam Duckor-Jones is speaking in the third person. He is always self-referential in his work & thinks very highly of his-self. Sam Duckor-Jones has many wise observations regarding his own practice Sam Duckor-Jones Sam Duckor Jones SmDucorJonnesSamDuckerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Will somebody please clean up this mess!!!!!!!?

Please clean it up & put it in a reusable bag & think about what you have done.

Well what I have done is this: a self portrait of the artist(me!!) as a mouldy bed #votegreen

Hey no politics!!!!

Well what I have done is this: a self portrait as a very glamorous bed which I am calling:

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS MOULDY BED

We all hope you like it very much :)

Sam Ducker-Jones

Gloria of Greymouth

Humanoid AI is a type of artificial intelligence that is designed to resemble humans in appearance and behaviour. Humanoid AI is still in its early stages of development, but it is likely to take over our lives the way mobile phones have done.

We need to ask ourselves if we really need all this technology. Could it be time to unplug ourselves and imagine the future in a different light?

Klaasz Breukel was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (1973)and moved to Nelson, New Zealand with his family in 2009. Besides running a graphic design studio and working as a design and media tutor, Klaasz continues to explore printmaking, installation art and projection in his art practice.

For an impression of his work, visit www.thisisthem.com

Jimmy D campaign image 2019: ‘One Night In Heaven’ Medium: 35mm film – Kodak Image Pro 100, Minolta Freedom Zoom - Bank Lane

Lela Jacobs campaign image 2019: ‘A-E-I-O-U-Y’ - Morrison Square

‘I believe that everyone needs a place for their shadows and villains to go. And for me, that is the primary ‘why’ I take pictures. I see and feel a freedom in expressing a darker side of human nature in my work, or else our phantoms find other places in life to haunt. I prefer to let my shadows loose inside a frame.‘

Marlborough Lights (aka David James) has been working professionally in the photography biz since 1999. Despite failing photography in high school art class, he nabbed a coveted position at a studio in North America – learning the greasy ropes of commercial product photography. First shooting medium format film, then digital.“I have tried so many times to give up taking pictures and doing something honourable with my life. But it keeps crawling back. I think I am cursed to do it.”

Having previously resided in New York and Toronto, Marlborough Lights returned to Aotearoa to continue his love of photographing bands and fashion. He has worked for a number of New Zealand based fashion clients including Lela Jacobs, Jimmy D, Lost and Led Astray, Nom*D, Company of Strangers, Astro Princess, and The Service Depot.

Marlborough Lights now lives in Marlborough, New Zealand. Instagram: @marlborough_lights

www.marlboroughlights.com

Zorros/ Foxes, 2022 - Bank Lane

Kusi Kay / Happiness / Felicidad, 2022 - Morrison Square

Acrylic paint, paint marker, canvas.

Kusi Kay" significa "Felicidad" en quechua, una de las lenguas nativas de Perú. Es una obra que reúne una serie de pensamientos y emociones expresados a través de sus colores y diseños. Las mujeres de los Andes y su singular vestimenta evocan cálidos recuerdos de mi hogar, la antigua ciudad de Cusco, mientras que los vibrantes colores exteriorizan el proceso de curación por el que he estado pasando mientras me acostumbraba a una vida más tranquila en Nueva Zelanda. Mantener la inspiración y la energía para mi pintura ha sido a veces un reto, pero a medida que me voy curando se ha vuelto más fácil y para mí esta pieza es una representación de lo lejos que he llegado.

'Kusi Kay' means 'Happiness' in Quechua, a native language of Peru. This is a piece that brings together a series of thoughts and emotions expressed through its colours and designs. The women of the Andes and their unique dress evoke warm memories of my home, the ancient city of Cusco, while the vibrant colours externalise the healing process I have been going through as I accustom myself to a quieter life in New Zealand. Maintaining inspiration and energy for my painting has at times been challenging, but as I heal it has become easier and for me, this piece is a representation of how far I have come.

Follow Lucia’s work on her Instagram The Rocket Station

Howling Cat, 2022

Multimedia objects and photographic stickers

Bank Lane and Morrison Square

Cat Fooks makes art from things. Things like my cake stand. But also lamps, vases, urns, side tables, and writing desks. Often they’re things she’s found left on the side of the road under signs marked FREE. Or they’ve come to her in other ways, as gifts or heirlooms. And she makes art from other artworks too, objects generated and gestated in her Onehunga studio that never graduated to the status of exhibitable art object. All of these things, these various part-objects—the constituent elements of a Fooks’ work—are brought together, collaged, messily and almost violently into finished artworks.”

~ Lachlan Taylor

Cat Fooks was born in Kirikiriroa Hamilton in 1976 and completed a Bachelor of Visual Communication, majoring in Painting, at Unitec in 1999. Seventeen years later, her first solo exhibition, Pleasant St., was held at Anna Miles Gallery. In 2020 Fooks’ was one of four artists included in Objectspace’s Deadweight Loss: The Value of Making. Fooks lives and works in Onehunga and is represented by Anna Miles Gallery in Auckland.

Bank Lane Window Images | Sam Harnett

Water Runs Deep, 2022

Wall Sconce

Sandstone clay fired with cobalt stain, dark green raffia and golden hand-rolled hemp.

Bank Lane

Butterfly Effect, 2022

Lamp

Base coiled and sculptured with white sandstone clay and fired with Manganese Dioxide ‘Effect’ bubbles. Shade is Madagascan natural raffia, woven with black dyed raffia spots.

Morrison Square

Leigh Thompson describes herself as an intuitive creative. Working with clay and fibre, in functional art and spatial design. Her work intersects light and sculpture using natural elements of the water flow and rock formations as an inspiration.

Leigh works from her studio on the beautiful Tahunanui Hills in Nelson. You can find her work for sale at Kiln Gallery - Hot Clay on Hardy Sreet. Follow her practice on Instagram leighclayfibre.