Saskia Leek [b.1970 New Zealand] Untitled [caravan] 2001. Mixed media. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Ronnie van Hout [b.1962 New Zealand] Drunken 1996. Colour photograph. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Ronnie van Hout [b.1962 New Zealand] Stupor 1996. Colour photograph. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Peter Peryer [b.1941 New Zealand] Mars Hotel Portfolio I 1975. Black and white photograph. Jim Barr and Mary Barr loan collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Peter Peryer [b.1941 New Zealand] Mars Hotel Portfolio VI 1975. Black and white photograph. Jim Barr and Mary Barr loan collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Pretty Vacant
8 October 2010 - 7 March 2011
‘…oh we're so pretty, oh so pretty we're vacant,oh we're so pretty, oh so pretty a vacant…’.
The Sex Pistols, Pretty Vacant, 1977.
Pretty Vacant brings together a range of artworks in a mix of media that span a more than thirty-year period as well as awide set of conceptual concerns. For all these variances however, there are some shared essential ingredients that influence the ways these elements have been generated and the intellectual positions they occupy. This can most clearly be described as a ‘DIY’ aesthetic, with an emphasis placed on the message being stated through an economy of means.
These are works of art that come witha particularattitude; there is a nonchalance towards content and location within the gallery. At its core, Pretty Vacant is a celebration of the humble and the unassuming, which is captured so poignantly in Saskia Leek’s ‘homemade’ caravan, Peter Peryer’s collection of ‘unhomely’ scenes and Roberta Thornley’s deflated party balloons.
Includes works by:
Mark Braunias
Neil Dawson
Bill Hammond
Michael Harrison
Saskia Leek
Michael Parekowhai
Peter Peryer
Séraphine Pick
Marie Shannon
Ricky Swallow
Roberta Thornley
Ronnie van Hout