Portfolio

Frida Kahlo’s physical, emotional and psychological pain was life-long.

She contracted polio as a child, suffered a severely traumatic life-threatening body injury as a young woman which plagued her health the rest of her life, had an almost obsessive love for artist and husband Diego Rivera, her communist revolutionist ‘underdog’ leanings drove her philosophies in life, her affair with Leon Trotsky and her love of all things indigenously Mexican, all caused her a deep anxiety, even pain.

This exhibition reworks, explores and further develops the partly realised theme from an earlier exhibi [ ... ]

The work of these seven Takapuna Grammar students is a reply to the theme ‘City versus Nature’.

All works came into being after studying contemporary street artists and illustrators.

Created on skateboard decks from mixed media the individuality of each work and the approach each artist has taken to the brief are fascinating. This fearless approach to issues both age-old and contemporary, relates to the endless topics of peace and
peacefulness. How does one engage peacefully with the world around us? Can we be peaceful beings without taking the natural environment into consideration?

These artworks suggest no [ ... ]

We first met Guy Robinson when he called in to The Depot to show us the hauntingly beautiful skyscapes that he had shot for 'Return of The King'. It was plain to see, as we all gathered round to see his work in the middle of the gallery, that Guy was possessed of a formidable talent for capturing the world in a way that somehow made it seem like a much better, more beautiful place to live. This portfolio shows some of the stunning images he created for his latest exhibition 'Revisioned', on show at the Torpedo Bay Naval Museum from April 27 - May 25 2012.

Revisioned by Guy Robinson

The Gun Emplacemen [ ... ]

The wonderful Camille McCawley loves the planet and has a new BA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography.  Originally from the UK she has a huge passion for documenting environmental and social issues which she furthered through her internship with Magnum Photos in London.

“The land and people fascinate me. I'm especially intrigued by what people are doing to help and cause major issues such as climate change, renewable energy, sustainable living etc. I am currently interning with Oxfam and I work full time at Flagstaff Gallery. I do my best to surround myself with like-minded creative and environm [ ... ]

Meet curator and photographer Jo Galvin who recently returned to NZ having done (creative) time in the UK.  Jo shares with MORPH her series Adore and Endure which was produced over the last three years both in Auckland and London.

Using a 1960s medium format Hasselblad, the images are a willing and intimate exchange between subject and photographer.  Jo Galvin’s practice involves an ongoing documentation of her extended social circle using her growing collection of analog cameras.  Adore and Endure looks at the relationship between camera and photographer, photographer and subject, and the photographic pr [ ... ]

Erin Forsyth makes art, organises collaborations and projects to assist others to make art, runs an artist space, is documenting and mapping cultural art makers and basically lives and breathes art.

You can read a full interview with Erin over here, at MORPH's 10 Questions.

For Erin's portfolio see below.

portfolio/Erin_Forsyth

After many late nights slaving over V-fuelled AUT assignments, Brook Copland stumbled across the rough edges of screen-printing. The messy textures and disjointed lines have since cemented an ongoing passion for hand printed work.

“Both adult themes and child-like imagery cross-pollinate throughout my work to exaggerate the unrelenting exposure of sex in the media, even in children’s programmes and advertising. Complex and mature ideas underlie simple cartoon imagery to highlight how perceptions can merge unnoticed”.

Brook  has a great appreciation of the pop art approach of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein  [ ... ]

Artist & certifiable weirdo Michael Kennedy (aka Malangeo) creates wonderfully weird portraits of cute critters, macabre beasties & zombie turnips.

"I was brought up on the irreverent humour of cartoons and comics like The Farside and Calvin & Hobbes; later the discovery of art magazine “Juxtapoz” introduced me to the low brow & pop-surrealism art movement."

His work is a unique blend of traditional oil painting technique and contemporary pop surreal style and oozes of whimsical charm, dark humour and pop culture references.

Other creative interests of note include illustrating, teaching, live-painting, sc [ ... ]

Kevin Lauv is an Auckland photographer working predominantly on portraiture.  His most recent  body of work, some of which are shown in this portfolio, explore the unspoken words that come into play when seeing a person for the first time, the idea of first impressions.

"Having the power to create something that is fake, true, desirable, and  undesirable is what stood out to me about photography. I have a huge interest in the interaction between photograph and my audience"

portfolio/Kevin_Lauv

Spencer Harrington, who paints under the alias 'RANDOM', is a young urban artist who has exhibited widely in the short time he has devoted himself to being a fulltime artist. He uses an extensive range of usual and unusual materials in stunningly innovative ways. These works have found their way into collections across New Zealand and now into Europe, America and Japan.

Random pushes himself and the visual expectations of the viewer to the limit. Projects include artistically covering the iconic 'Fish 'n Chip shop at Piha, being commissioned to take complete creative control of the fit-out for Auckland Univ [ ... ]