JOHN REYNOLDS

Starkwhite is pleased to present Vagabondage by John Reynolds from 22 August to 21 September 2013.

Reynolds' work resists summary. When people write about his project, they often make lists. In one short catalogue entry Allan Smith once described Reynolds as intoxicated, indecorous, hedonistic, romantic, sublime, mythopoetic, dithyrambic, epic and visionary, excessive and cloying, satanic and heavenly, and restless; his compositions as turbulent, angelic, chromatic, shimmering and exfoliating, internally stressed, externally unhinged, and ornamental; his iconography as reminiscent of blood vessels and hallucinated architecture.

Reynolds regularly combines overblown scale - the public address of billboards - with an arcane personal language, fugitive drawing style and obscure intentions. While the effect can be rich and ecstatic, materially the work can also be basic; it owes something to arte povera. Signs like crosses, scaffolds, veils, webs, knots, and road signs declare a fascination with pointers and a love of complexity. Echoes of the local play out against a signature toying with language and fragments of text.

Vagabondage locates key ley lines within this broader, shifting territory. It begins with Twilight of the Idols (1992), Hope Street (1997) and WORKS END (2008), and proceeds as a changing parade of major and minor moments in a practice that encompasses painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, performance and landscape works.

John Reynolds lives and works in Auckland. Solo shows include: The Art of War, ART HK, the international art fair of Hong Kong (2010); NOMADOLOGY [loitering with intent], Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (2010); 1001 Nights, The Amory Show, New York (2010); Table of Dynasties, ART HK, the international art fair of Hong Kong (2009); John Reynolds: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, a collaboration between the artist and actor/director Geraldine Brophy, Christchurch Art Gallery (2008); Speaking Truth to Power, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland University (2007); HEVN: NOT TO SCALE, curated by Sophie McIntyre, Adam Gallery Victoria University, Wellington (2002): and From K Road to Kingdom Come, curated by Gregory Burke and Robert Leonard, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2001).

Representation in recent group exhibitions include: Lines Across the Ocean, MOCA, Santiago (2013); Kermadec, Maritime Museum, Auckland & City Gallery Wellington (2012); One Hand Read, presented in a three-person show at Art Los Angeles Contemporary, the international art fair of Los Angeles (2010); Dorothy Napangardi / John Reynolds, curated by Robert Leonard, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2009); Walters Prize Exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery (2008); Zones of Conflict, 15th Biennale of Sydney (his work Cloud was commissioned for the entrance hall of the Art Gallery of New South Wales), curated by Charles Merewether (2006); 54321: Auckland Artists Projects, curated by Ngahiraka Mason, Auckland Art Gallery (2006); and Nine Lives: The Chartwell Collection, curated by Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery (2003).

Reynolds is also the recipient of a Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, a member of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Foundation and the subject of Questions for Mr Reynolds, a TV documentary produced by Shirley Horrocks.