Grant Whibley, Manu – A Survey Exhibition
Papakura Art Gallery
10 Averill St, Papakura
Until October 17

For a number of years Grant Whibley has concentrated on paintings birds. These have been based on birds which have been preserved by the taxidermist and held by the Auckland Museum. While some are painted directly from the subject they are mainly based on photographs he has taken of them.

Central to these paintings is the often uneasy relationship we have with Nature and the natural world. The very basis of his work has ambivalence in that the images he creates are based on stuffed animals found in a museum rather than recording them in their natural environment.

These paintings are not merely descriptions of birds but complex investigations and explorations of the birds themselves, the environment, humankind and the artist himself.

The fascination we have with the natural world, the kinship we often feel with the animals is countered by the fear, uncertainty and wonder we also have for them.

The birds have a number of interrelated interpretations and meanings which raise the images from mere representations to complex musings on the environment, the human condition and art itself.

Birds have a long history in New Zealand art from the early depictions of the first explorers with artists such as Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson. In the latter part of the twentieth century a number of artists recorded the declining bird population notably Joseph Keulemans who illustrated a number of the books produced by Walter Buller.

In more recent times Don Binney produced a number of optimistic works featuring abstracted birds hovering above landscapes while Bill Hammond, in responding to the role of Walter Buller in decimating the native bird population produced a series of works from early 1990’s featuring semi mythic-style bird creatures.

Birds are present in number of paintings by Colin McCahon included “The Shining Cuckoo” where the trail of birds symbolises the spirits leaving the earth.

Maori history and mythology also features birds to a large extent partly because there were no mammals. This is an ambivalent history for although Maori invested birds with spiritual features they were also a major source of food so the combination of life and death is deeply imbedded in that mythology.

This can be seen in the story of Maui when he tried to kill Hinenuitepo, the death goddess by entering her vagina to rip out her heart and gain immortality. Unfortunately the sounds of the fantail which accompanied him woke Hinenuitepo who crushed Maui to death. His death meant that man was destined to live as mortals.
Other birds like the harrier and morepork were seen as messengers to the gods and were used by tohunga to communicate with the gods.

Western culture is also filled with birds and various birds play active roles in literature and art.

Birds also feature in many cultures and Western culture and the Christian religions have long used the dove as a part of the godhead. The bird is often used as symbol for the spiritual dimension. There is still conjecture as to whether angels are birds

While the paintings of the birds is close to ornithological depiction the varying viewpoints the artist uses result in the birds appearing to have a personality.

The inclination of the head, the look of the eyes, the angle of the beak all contribute to notion of the bird as an individual. This confrontation with an individual means we tend to make further interpretations about the purpose of the paintings.

These portraits of the birds could more appropriately be “mug shots”, images of wanted felons or birds at risk.

One of his paintings is entitled “Duality” and throughout his work there is an exploration of the duality of man.

Many of his works feature the shadows of the birds and the artist has noted of the work "The Nakahi" that “the word is the Maori name for serpent and it is depicted as a shadow of the bird on the wall”.

In terms of being a metaphor for the nature of man this shadow can be interpreted as symbolising both the dark side of the bird or equally well the guiding spirit or personal angel that some would say accompany us.

Birds can represent the dreams, nightmares and psychological phobias which were central to the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds or they can represent the freedom of spirit as depicted in Luc Jacquet’s The March of the Penguins.

Another feature of many of the artist’s works is the presentation of the birds housed within display cases. This depiction of the birds being contained and trapped is another of the metaphorical ways in which the bird can represent the notion of humans being confined in their restrictive environments.

“Tarawera” which depicts five birds in a diorama has aspects of a shooting range with numbers attached to the specimen. This work has a strong connection with the work of Bill Hammond with the birds eyeing the viewer with a nonchalant demeanour.

The artist approach to painting birds has changed over the years from the early works where birds were almost primitive totems. He has painted most of the birds in a realist manner but with more recent works his more painterly approach means the viewer is more conscious of the way the bird is painted so that it is no longer a product of nature but of the artist.

While some of his paintings are titles with the name of the bird depicted most of the works have more descriptive or evocative titles, an indication that for the artist these paintings are not so much about physical description as spiritual and psychological insight