Art of the powerhouse goes on show

Landmark Exhibition: Selected Works from The Rutherford Trust Collection
James Wallace Arts Trust
Pah Homestead
April 16 - June 23

The most important exhibition right now is the new show which opened this week at the Wallace Arts Trust Gallery in the Pah Homestead.

Landmark Exhibition: Selected Works from The Rutherford Trust Collection features some of the most important works of New Zealand art of the last 60 years.

The trust was established in 1988 as part of the Electricity Corporation’s commitment to “encourage and enhance New Zealand’s cultural life and heritage”.

It has established a collection of artworks with the aim of reflecting the development of 20th century New Zealand art and making them available to the public.

Among the major paintings on show are a couple by Colin McCahon, including the large work Untitled (Northland Diptych). It is an atypical work with vivid reds and blues. The colours match with a large Hotere, Winter Solstice, Careys Bay, which also features intense blues and reds.

Both conjure up a sense of the spiritual nature of the landscape rather than its physical qualities.

As befits the collection, there are a couple of works which are of hydro installations: Charles Tole's Hydro Motif of 1974 and Doris Lusk’s Benmore of 1974. Also acknowledging the power of electricity is Paul Hartigan's hieroglyphic neon installation Galileo’s Diary.

There is an excellent Don Binney, Kereru Over Rich Suburb Dunedin, a restrained Gordon Walters, an early cloud work by Brent Wong and a huge gold and black work by Max Gimblett, Temple of 1984.

Among the more recent acquisitions are a very large Serpahine Pick entitled Lemon Stack of 1996. Amalgame of 1991 is a small altarpiece work for a Kabalist by Julia Morison, and then there is Ross Ritchie’s slightly surreal White Christmas, which combines a sweep of beach and artist's studio.

Others include Michael Illingworth, A Man and a Woman, Tony Fomison’s Holy Trinity, McCahon’s Necessary Protection: Muriwai (blue and brown), 1971, and a three-panelled screen by Robert Ellis, Cosmo Screen.

There are also works by Pat Hanly, John Weeks and David Armitage.