GRETCHEN ALBRECHT

After Goya Lett Thomas 12 November–12 December 2020 Karangahape Road

Press Release

Michael Lett, in association with Two Rooms, is pleased to present an exhibition of four major new hemisphere paintings by Gretchen Albrecht.

For a number of years, Gretchen Albrecht had a postcard of Goya’s portrait of actress Antonia Zárate pinned to the wall of her studio. She first saw the work at the National Gallery of Ireland, and immediately fell in love with the striking colours. The uninterrupted time in her home studio enforced by 2020’s lockdowns saw Albrecht return to her Goya catalogues, and the postcard image of Zárate was joined by two other Goya subjects, María Cayetana de Silva and María Josefa Pimentel, to form the basis of four new paintings.

The result is a dramatic new series of hemispheres in which Albrecht pays homage to Goya’s portraits of these three women. Not seeking to represent the literal or the particular, Albrecht instead offers a nuanced and expansive response to the Spanish romantic painter’s work.

About the Artist

Gretchen Albrecht is a leading New Zealand painter whose work spans more than six decades of practice across painting, watercolour, collage and works on paper. She is best known for her stained colour fields and distinctive shaped canvases—particularly the hemisphere and oval formats—in which luminous colour, architectural structure and gestural movement intersect. Since the 1970s, Albrecht’s paintings have moved from poured acrylic stain paintings to large-scale hemispheres and ovals that reference landscape, architecture, art history and the cosmos while insisting on abstraction. Her work is represented in major public collections including Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, affirming her position as a central figure in contemporary New Zealand art.

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Also Exhibiting at Lett Thomas

All Exhibitions

JACQUELINE FRASER The Making of Cleo de Cinq a Sept 2026 Lett Thomas 14 October–14 November 2026 Karangahape Road

About the Gallery

Lett Thomas is a contemporary art gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The gallery represents international and locally based artists at the forefront of contemporary practice, and presents a programme of exhibitions focused on innovative practices from the present day and preceding decades. In addition, the gallery regularly produces art publications, ranging from artist books to collected writings.

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Address

312 Karangahape Road
Newton
Auckland
New Zealand

Opening Hours

Wednesday – Friday
11am – 5pm

Saturday
11am – 3pm

Lett Thomas

312 Karangahape Road, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand

+64 9 309 7848
https://lett-thomas.com/

Opening hours

Wednesday – Friday
11am – 5pm

Saturday
11am – 3pm

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