ART EXHIBITION Ceramics + painting brings together two superb artists in an intriguing presentation of contemporary ceramics and arresting abstract paintings at the Tote Modern Gallery in Ōtaki.
The works of both artists – ceramics by Diane Greenwood and paintings by Jude Whitcombe – challenge conventional views on their chosen mediums and impress with the depth of their quality, sophistication and beauty.
Diane has had a long-term association with multiple forms of art, over time building a substantial practice in glass casting, painting and ceramics, initially in Auckland before moving to Waikanae in 2000.
“ln this exhibition I explore transformation,” says Diane, “presenting provocative, unsettling and mysterious human forms that seem to move between states of being; and strangely asymmetrical vessels that seem to wilt and bend under their weight in a series moving towards more basic, stronger organic forms.”
Wellington painter Jude Whitcombe has exhibited in group and solo shows in Wellington and Queenstown. Her abstract paintings are both intuitive and controlled and have been greatly influenced by some of the great American painters of the 1940s and 1950s such as Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and Robert Ryman.
“My Tote paintings focus on the unusual alliance between science and the arts,” says Jude.
“They reflect how humanity alters paradigms and constructs new ones as we learn more about ourselves and our place in the cosmos. For example, Aristotle’s definitive proof that the earth was a round sphere was just one insight our understanding of our place in the cosmos. My paintings are born from a curiosity about humankind’s survival and evolution throughout history.”
Be entertained, even shocked, by this daring collection of unsettling ceramic heads and vessels and intriguing abstract paintings.
Event details
Where: Tote Modern Gallery, 47 Te Roto Road, Ōtaki
When: 4 June 5:30-7.00pm, then daily until 27 June.