TENT AOTEAROA 2021

Artist Elisabeth Pointon is finally free of her antagonist-muse – her day job at a luxury car dealership, where she’s worked since her final years of university. THERE IS AN ARTWORK IN ALL OF THIS. is a new series of work created as Pointon shakes off the tensions of the workplace and seeks a return to a state of beauty – to a whole and harmonious self.

Some of the visual language is familiar. The signs and the inflatable fit easily within Elisabeth’s existing family of artworks, which co-opt the look and feel of promotional merchandise, mega inflatables, and soft play. Elisabeth also continues her use of text here, but she’s no longer drawing on the lexicon of the corporate workplace; the words and phrases in this exhibition are more philosophical. There are other unexpected things in this series too — including paintings and a new fixation with pool noodles.

This body of work is crafted from personal endings and beginnings. Its title responds to a question Pointon’s father, Richard, asked her throughout her life – and right until the end of his – “do you think there might be an artwork in all of this?” As a kind of answer, this exhibition honours Pointon’s relationship with her father, and their kindred belief in art’s ability to keep us afloat through life’s realities and challenges.

TENT Art Week was designed to offer galleries and artists the opportunity to pitch their tent, or ‘Pop Up’ in a space other than their own gallery. This exhibition was originally planned for the large Yu Mei Lounge in Newmarket, Auckland but shifted to Wellington due to the COVID lockdown.

Yu Mei will also launch their first shoppable artist collaboration, featuring a limited edition bag designed with Elisabeth Pointon., the WORTH IT. Braidy Bag.