April 29 - July 31, 2011 Sources

Inspiration, reflection, observation. Where does an artist’s work begin? This exhibition explores the work of Paul and Fran Dibble with this thought in mind. Paul’s bronze sculptures, including large scale works, and Fran’s paintings are displayed alongside objects that give us insight into the sources which inform the artists’ practice.

Each artist is concerned with images of this country; for Paul this goes back to his childhood growing up in Waitakaruru on the Hauraki Plains and discoveries of artefacts, while Fran’s interest stems from the array of shapes and textures found in New Zealand’s flora. Their sources then, though connected through a concern with the uniqueness of New Zealand, are as divergent as the practices of each.

Paul Dibble’s works draw specifically on Māori art, folk art and modernist art history; and reference both the European and the Pacific in the settlement of New Zealand. His concern then is with New Zealand’s visual and material culture, alongside our wider context of the Pacific and the legacies of our colonial history. In works dating from 2001 to a 2011 work which has not previously been exhibited, we see the artist exploring and combining these sources to set up narratives which often convey a strong message. Works such as 2006’s Lion Attacking Moa for example rework images drawn from European art history in a New Zealand context while also presenting an analogy of colonialism.  

From these disparate sources emerges a collaborative exhibition that talks to the development of a national identity.