The all-purpose room

There are few artists whose works are more fitting to a lockdown than Joanna Margaret Paul, whose career is currently being celebrated at Dunedin Public Art Gallery in the exhibition Imagined in the context of a room. The exhibition opens with Untitled – 22 Royal Terrace(1971), a remarkable, large-scale painting made shortly after Paul relocated to Ōtepoti Dunedin. A loving portrait of a space where life is lived and art is made, Paul shapes her composition around an experience of space and time. A sun-bathed sofa beckons, large windows emphasising the boundary between the interior and landscape which sits at the heart of Paul’s practice.  As she later wrote, ‘In my work, I’m dealing with the repositories of life, where its lived.’

Throughout Imagined in the context of a room Paul offers glimpses into her life and the people she shared it with. Today we are pleased to offer our readers a personal essay written by Pat Baskett, one of Paul’s close friends, reflecting on life, friendship and art – click here.

Noho ora mai
Lucy Hammonds

We’re hoping it won’t be too long before we can return from our own rooms to those of our artists and galleries.  In the meantime, continue to visit our website and facebook or explore the newly-released publication Joanna Margaret Paul: Imagined in the context of a room available from our online shop.

[image: JOANNA MARGARET PAUL Untitled, 22 Royal Terrace 1971. Acrylic on board [1250 x 1240mm]. Private Collection. Courtesy of Joanna Margaret Paul Estate]