For art practices that follow in the wake of 20th century art history, the distance opened up by processes of copying –between reproduction and original– is one rich in reflection, variation and finely-tuned decision making. The exhibition Mirror Grain brings together the work of three New Zealand artists who draw on reproductions from the history of design, architecture and the visual arts, in order to focus on the material nature of our relationship with objects.
Celebrated ceramicist Ann Verdcourt has long worked with the conventions of pictorial space to form figurative, still life and narrative works in clay. Verdcourt works with a wide range of art-historical and colloquial references, bringing her deft hand and humour to bear on our inherited visual and object histories.
Creating constellations of reference points from across design and art histories, visual artist Katrina Beekhuis works through a process of making-as-thinking to emphasise the slippery nature of our perception of materials, objects and their meaning.
Sculptor Charlotte Drayton works at the intersection of conceptual practice and the decorative arts, drawing on references from interior design and architecture in order to position the implications of taste within the built environment.