In, on, over

Featuring works from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery collection, In, on, over offers a series of visual prompts to think about processes and actions of abstraction. 

The title of this exhibition came in response to a conversation with the artist Oliver Perkins, whose exhibition is concurrently on display here at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. In, on, over considers the art making process as a series of distinct actions; of separating a material, shape or idea into distinct parts and interrogating how these might come back together to create new forms and understandings. 

Abstract art is often considered as a way of working that is free from the constraints of representation. The word ‘abstract’ can mean the act of separating one thing from another. For many artists, the process of abstraction involves a series of actions and decisions that create the space to explore ideas, forms, emotions, politics, and experiences through non-objective visual language.  

The artworks on display here offer different ways to think about the decisions or actions involved in exploring abstract concepts. Attention given to frames, margins, intersections, and edges offer ways to think through how one thing sits within another. Architecture and the built environment emerge both as materials and subject matter, while stacking and layering creates relationships, junctions, and potentials to exploit. 

–––––

Nā te kohika tou o kā mahi toi nā Te Whare Toi Tūmatawhānui o Ōtepoti, ka tukuna e Kai roto, kai ruka, kai ruka ake i tētahi raupapa tīwhiri ā-konohi ki te whakaaro ki kā tukaka me kā mahi matūkore.

Ko te ikoa o tēnei whakaaturaka, he urupare ki te matapakika ki te rika-toi Oliver Perkins, nāhana hoki tētahi atu whakaaturaka e whakaatu ana i tēnei wā tou ki Te Whare Toi Tūmatawhānui o Ōtepoti. Ka āta whakaarohia a Kai roto, kai ruka, kai ruka ake i te tukaka mahika toi hai raupapa mahi tino mārama; o te whakawehe i te papaka, te whao i te āhua, i te whakaaro rānei ki ōhona wāhaka matua, ā, i te āta uiui atu ki te whakahokika o ēnei āhuataka katoa ki te waihaka i tētahi āhua hou, i tētahi māramataka hou.

Te nuika o te wā ko whakaarohia ko te mahi toi matūkore he ara mahi toi here kore i kā hereka o te whakakonohi matua o te mahi toi. Ko tētahi o kā tikaka o te ‘matūkore’ ko te whakawehe i tētahi mea nō tētahi atu mea. Ki te nuika o kā rika-toi, kai roto i te tukaka matūkore he raupapa mahi, he whakatau hoki ka waihaka i te wā, i te wāhi kia toroa atu ai kā whakaaro, kā āhua, kā kare-ā-roto, te tōrakapū me kā wheako mā te reo tōkeke ā-konohi.

Ko kā mahi toi e whakaatu ana ki konei ka tukuna he ara anō ki te whakaaro mō kā whakatauka rerekē, mō kā mahi rerekē i roto i te toro atu ki kā ariā matūkore. Ko te mahara ki kā aka, ki kā pae, ki kā whakawhitika, ki kā tahataha hoki ka tukuna he ara hou ki te whakaaro ki te noho tika rānei o tētahi mea ki tētahi atu mea. Ko te hoahoaka, ko te takiwā hakaka ka puta tahi hai papaka, hai take hoki, i taua wā tou ko te hereka takata, ko te tūtakitaka, ko te pito mata hoki ka puta i te whakapapataka, i te whakapūtaka, hai mea whakaapo. 

View the exhibition labels – click here

Exhibition Partner