Dinosaurs and motorbikes feature in new exhibitions

Martin Ball, Still
Gregor Kregar, Lost World
Gow Langsford Gallery
Until December 5

Martin Ball is probably most well-known for his portraits of major artists and performers such as Neil Finn, and Ralph Hotere but in his most recent show he has a new series of portraits featuring motorbikes.

Motorbikes displays themselves in a much more open way than cars. With the car we appreciate the design of the outside shell, but bikes bring together the motor, shell and structure so that the function and form merge.

Each bike Mr Ball has depicted has an individuality determined by the size of the motor and its various parts, and functions. He manages to capture both the rawness and the beauty of each.

The works range in size from the large Blue Smoke ($12,000) portrait of an Indian Enfield to the smaller images of motors such as Still (iii) ($5500)

Mr Ball has had an interest in bikes since the 1970s when he produced images of bikes and bikers. Included in the exhibition is an image of one of his larger black and white drawings of that time which has been turned into a limited edition print, “Remodelled Triumph” ($1150).

Gregor Kregar’s exhibition Lost World is another example of the artist playing with everyday objects; elevating the commonplace to the status of high art, making the ordinary, extraordinary.

The series consists of a number of bronze dinosaurs, in a playful Jurassic Park tribute.

His transformation of these ordinary objects is not straightforward, however. Like his sheep which had knitted jackets, and even his cloud forms created for the New Lynn shopping centre, have inadvertently become unintended penis shapes.

With the dinosaurs his models have not been the museum versions but rather the inflatable ones of the children’s playroom with “Lost World; T-Rex large” ($25,000) and “Lost World; T-Rex small” ($13,500)

There are accompanying watercolours of dinosaurs in urban environments such as “Lost world; T-Rex drawing” ($2500) which could derive from Japanese horror films such as Godzilla.

The spectacular work in the centre of the gallery is “Lost World; Wall” ($38,500) an L shaped wall constructed from handmade glass bricks which are imbedded with coloured neon tubes.

These concrete block replicas of fragile sparkling glass are the antithesis of the solid concrete block. This contrast of materials is found in most of the sculptures which sit on plinths of his glass blocks.

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