Nicky Foreman paints sacred surfaces

Nicky Foreman, Ordinarily Sacred
Artis Gallery, Auckland
Until July 28

Nicky Foreman’s latest exhibition is aptly titled, combining elements of her previous work, mundane objects such as fence posts, landscapes and metal patinas, along with images and symbols drawn from notions of Neo-Platonism, plus Renaissance and medieval art.

The combination provides a dialogue between the contemporary and the past, between notions about New Zealand and about its European heritage and ideas.

With many of the works Foreman revisits her practice of combining a number of smaller units into a larger construction, as in her Untitled ($2200), in which 15 small oval shapes are linked like a large necklace. The shapes bear a range of images both realist and abstract, delicate paintings of foliage, along with swirls of colour and gold.

The large work That Which Makes Life Beautiful ($15,000) also makes use of a repeated shape, in this case large matchboxes serve as the basis for constructing individual paintings which are linked in a seemingly haphazard way but which have visual connections with abstract mosaics and a chart of the periodic table.

Interplay

This interplay between sconce and cultural history pervades several of the works and in paintings such as Autumn d’Azur ($11,500) also combines aspects of her travels and painting sojourns in the south of France.

Several of the works are like medieval heraldic shields or escutcheon.

Encompass II ($8500) combines medieval decorative patterns, repeated oval shapes and a number of circular shapes which could be references to the Copernican or Galilean notions of planetary movement.

The exhibition also includes a screen, La dame ($15,000), which looks as though it has been assembled using old door panels and wall sections form a Renaissance palace, repainted by Klimt. There are decorative parts, gilding, abstract passages along with religious symbols and botanical subjects.

The exhibition provides an intricate web of medieval, Renaissance and contemporary symbolism which would provide Dan Brown with enough material for another book.

Foreman says: "Ordinarily Sacred is an exploration of the way in which we compartmentalise our lives and this theme is exemplified in the work That Which Makes Life Beautiful. How we show the world some aspects of ourselves and others we keep hidden.

"Continuing on from a long important aspect in my work, I take the mundane and ordinary (in this case, matchboxes) and exalt them into something beautiful to be savoured.”