Spring salon 2016

202 Parnell Road Parnell Auckland +64 9 366 6045 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz fran@artcntr.co.nz

Spring Salon 2016

25 August

Spring is a time of new growth and new beginnings built on solid foundations. The Spring Salon comprises a dazzling collection of works by leading New Zealand and international artists. This exhibition christens and celebrates the next chapter in our 45 year history as we joyfully open the doors of our new gallery at 202 Parnell Road, just 150 metres from our old premises.

Invited artists have been encouraged to give of their best, and they have done just that. For your enjoyment we extend a warm welcome to Spring Salon, an exhibition of over fifty original masterpieces which will delight, intrigue, uplift and edify.

Frances Davies - Director

Gabryel Harrison

Few things are more beautiful than a Gabryel Harrison painting. This New Zealand born, Vancouver based artist channels grace and pays tribute to both the complexity and simplicity of nature’s gifts through the symbol of the rose.

As with all her works, this latest offering resonate on more that just a visual level. Whether resting on a cloth of white linen accompanied by lilacs, or cascading across the canvas, Harrison’s peony roses exude and sometimes drip a visual fragrance uniquely their own.

Patterson Parkin

British born and trained Patterson Parkin has lived and worked in New Zealand since 1974.

This latest quartet of Parkin portraits retain the Klimpt-with-a-twist backdrops of pastel and soft gold bullions of colour. Working in a warm palette of tangerines through to Burnt Sienna Parkin creates portraits of contemporary feminine beauty.

With their flowing auburn tresses Annah, Simona, Gabryel and raven haired, Victoria are modern-day poster girls. As always Parkin mixes it up a with a tapestry of texture, tones and talent.

Lawrence Leitch

Oil on canvas

76 x 76 cm

$3,250

The Botanica Series featuring familiar native and introduced plants such as Echiveria, Dusty Miller, Leptinella Calcarea and Cape Daisy are a breath of fresh New Zealand air. Here we see a traditional subject revitalised by the contemporary vision of Frances van Dammen. Green and gold, favoured hues from Mother Nature’s palette, align and embrace in these highly decorative works. With skillful originality, inspired by New Zealand flora this latest series of works sees van Dammen create modern day tapestries of varying sizes in oils and gold leaf.

Philip Holmes

Julia

Conté on panel 27 x 20 cm

$5,000

Rosalia

Conté on panel 37 x 30 cm

$6,500 Ana

Conté on panel 27 x 20 cm

$5,000

Working in both conté and oil, Holmes has long been acknowledged as one of New Zealand’s finest portrait painters. These engaging works show Holmes’ mastery of grisaille, an elegant technique introduced by 15th century Flemish painters working in a limited palette of shades of grey.

Casati, Honeymoon

Acrylic on canvas

60 x 50 cm $2,500

In this exuberant painting, Ellerton pays tribute to the freespirited heiress, socialite and artists’ muse, Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957) here on honeymoon in Paris where she attended the Exposition Universelle. In a gesture of baroque expansiveness Luisa, naked except for her red silk slippers, throws caution to the winds (something she did throughout her life), under the protective gaze of her beloved cheetahs.

The Marchesa’s famous eccentricities dominated and delighted European society for nearly three decades. This extravagant hostess to the Ballets Russes was a legend among her contemporaries. She astonished society by parading with a pair of diamond-leashed cheetahs and wearing live snakes as jewellery. On one memorable occasion her boa-constrictor enjoyed a brief escape at the Ritz. Everywhere she went, she set trends, inspired genius while fulfilling her wish to become a living work of art.

Salon

Tracy Ellerton

Artist’s Statement:

Part of my process before I begin painting, is to use music to set the scene, create the drama, complete the picture. For this reason much of my work is inspired by song titles and for this series, painters such as Delacroix and Chagall. These paintings have been inspired not only by the beauty and majesty that is Paris, but also by the creative genius of women like Edith Piaf, Kate Bush and Frances Davies...who came up with the original concept. Please enjoy them as much as I enjoyed creating them - Tracy Ellerton, Melbourne

Théåtre Parisien

Acrylic on canvas

90 x 60 cm $2,750

In this Turneresque explosion of floral energy Ellerton transports us to the high-energy world of 1925 Théåtre Parisien. As viewers, we are front stage at the Theatre des Champs Elysees as Josephine Baker’s performance with Revue Negre draws to a close. Baker became the toast of Paris and the muse of artists and writers such as Hemingway, who called her the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.

Although obscured by a curtain a roses thrown by her adoring audience, Josephine is present in the spirit of this painting. Ellerton floods her canvas with impressionistic brushstrokes loaded with colour, while a Tricoleur flag is waved amidst the shower of adulation and applause. A painting of celebration.

Brian Dahlberg

Highway 8, Canterbury

Oil on board 65 x 182 cm

$12,500

Cape Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay

Oil on board 80 x 60 cm

$5,250

Working for over forty years in a unique personal style known as Regional Surrealism, Dahlberg retains his place as one of New Zealand’s leading landscape painters. These new works capture the land, sea, sky and topography of our land with stylish clarity.

Eugenea

Les Femmes Chantilly

Oil on canvas 71 x 87 cm

$12,500

Geisha Blossoms

Oil on canvas 59 x 46 cm

$10,500

A graduate of Moscow’s famed Surikov Academy, Wellington based Eugenea creates a collection of works celebrating the mystic of feminine beauty. Eugenea often contrasts impasto - the thick application of oil paint - with finely painted skin tones - all to great and memorable effect.

Franco Anselmi

Cavalli bianchi

Oil fresco 79 x 98 cm

$5,500

Cappelli neri

Oil fresco 91 x 91 cm

$3,500

From the Veneto studio of Anselmi comes a collection of works embodying Italian style and the brilliance of colour for which the Venetian School is known. The world of Anselmi is like no other, from the long-long necked beauty of his women to the energy and movement of frolicking stallions and the humorous amiability of his cats, these contemporary frescoes are a focal point of enjoyment. A graduate of Urbino University, Anselmi has spent a life time working and exhibiting worldwide.

Patricia Payne

Dunedin based artist Patricia Payne is one of those rare individuals doubly blessed with artistic and musical talents. Contracted by Covent Garden for over thirty years, Patricia has sung in most of Europe’s major opera houses and regularly with Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras.

Whilst living in London, a friendship with the late John Harthan, Librarian of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and an authority on illuminated manuscripts, ultimately laid the foundations for her artistic career. Patricia Payne creates works of charm and enchantment for a worldwide clientele.

Contacts

Frances Davies - Director

0274 936 360 fran@artcntr.co.nz +64 9 366 6045

Richard Thomson - Director 0274 751 071 richard@artcntr.co.nz +64 9 379 4010

James Watkins

james@artcntr.co.nz +64 9 366 6045

www.internationalartcentre.co.nz

202 Parnell Road Parnell Auckland +64 9 366 6045 www.internationalartcentre.co.nz fran@artcntr.co.nz