CARDINAL

Fault Lines: Gretchen Albrecht
 
Painted by Gretchen Albrecht in 1981 and acquired by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in the same year, Cardinal is the focus of this week’s ArtPost. Striking in its shape, scale, and use of colour, Cardinal is infused with references to Renaissance art, religious symbolism, and associations with childbirth and motherhood. Albrecht’s travels to Italy influenced this painting, as she illuminated the potential of architecture, fresco, and paint to unify and create her first ‘hemisphere’ with Cardinal. Look closely, then step back to fully experience the effects of the purple and red quadrants, as the gestural strokes and curved canvas come together to make an arresting image.
 
You can find Cardinal in the Fault Lines exhibition on the Gallery’s first floor.


Noho ora mai
Anya Samarasinghe
Ihupukutaka Kairauhī Curatorial Intern
Dunedin Public Art Gallery

[image: Gretchen Albrecht Cardinal 1981. Acrylic on canvas. Collection Dunedin Public Art Gallery]