Gaylene Earl: Playing with Paper / Julia Thorne: Flora-Scapes

Opening in the Main Gallery
Saturday 12 April 2 – 3.30pm

Gaylene Earl’s large scale works, with the lack of visual reference, are designed to engulf the viewer and engage them in a contemplation of the detail that makes the whole. These large works comprise thousands of strips of paper, painted on both sides that are either torn or cut according to the requirements of the subject. These strips are then tethered at one end and allowed to float free, creating a sense of movement, texture and the possibility of change. They are tactile, temptingly interactive, shimmering cascades of colour, to be read and explored as aspects of nature. In other works from the Playing with Paper series, torn swathes of paper, vertical layering, colour and mark making capture the essence of the South Island back country, others evoke elemental skies.

Julia Thorne’s close-up deconstructed works of flora invite the viewer to truly see the intricacies, integration and innuendo of nature, so often overlooked in the frazzle of the modern world. Her limited edition prints are created through traditional emulsion-based film combined with the use of digital technology skills and pigmented inks.