Aotearoa Art Fair 2022: 7 Superlative Booths

The Aotearoa Art Fair returns to The Cloud in Auckland from 16 to 20 November. Preview some of the most spectacular works showing with Bartley & Company, Jhana Millers, Mokopōpaki, Scott Lawrie, FUTURES, Laree Payne, and Hoea! Gallery.

1. Alison Bartley, Founder of Bartley & Company Art, Wellington

We want to present dynamic work that audiences may not regularly see, and also serve our artists by putting their work in front of bigger audiences. So for this art fair, we decided to show three artists who each have established art practices but don't regularly exhibit in Auckland.

We also wanted to present a more thematic exhibition, and these painters all explore the materiality of painting and its links to the world via suggestion rather than representation. They share ideas around three-dimensionality, in-betweenness, transparency, edges, slipperiness, and mobility.

Hamish Coleman challenges the notion that a painting is a static object, Marie Le Lievre choreographs paint and lets it perform to create a seductive space for contemplation, and Miranda Parkes avoids the usual expectation that a painting is flat. We are excited to exhibit these three artists and to observe the conversation they generate.

Particular highlights are Miranda's compressed wood pallet works—often used to protect white-ware in transit—and Marie's large gestural 'pool' work.

2. Jhana Millers, Director of Jhana Millers, Wellington

We are working with ceramic artist and sculptor Jaime Jenkins to present a large-scale solo exhibition of new work under the title Fleeting Hour.

This will be Jaime's largest exhibition to date and her first solo presentation in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. We wanted to share her boundary-pushing work with visitors from throughout Australasia.

Jaime's exhibition will include a confounding two-metre-tall ceramic tapestry, which is fired in one piece and glazed a golden yellow. This sits alongside a large Egyptian-blue gas-fired and glazed stoneware sculpture.

Jaime pushes the boundaries of what clay can and should do. Her works move, they make sound, they rise up from the floor, and hang from the ceiling and walls. They are objects that defy the brittleness of fired clay.

3. Jacob Raniera, Associate Director at Mokopōpaki, Auckland

We wanted our booth to present a contrast. Out of Time is a solo exhibition of new and existing work by Roman Mitch. His pocket paintings are beautiful, performative, durational artworks from an ongoing series that began in 2007.

Some of Roman's new intermedia paintings are created using an original computer programme developed by the artist that reifies specific conceptual inputs.

Two highlights of Out of Time are Non Directional Field (2022) and Pocket Painting (2008).

We could consider the square to be a non-directional field. It implies a sense of equilibrium and ordering principle. However, we can transform this context in our minds very easily, and this mind movement represents the connection between architectural space and painting.

4. Scott Lawrie, Founder of Scott Lawrie, Auckland

Patricia Piccinini remains one of the most significant artists of our time and I'm honoured to represent her in New Zealand. Surprisingly, her 'tougher' works do place well with collectors here! This time around we're showing The Coup (2012) which elicits shock and awe wherever it's shown.

It contrasts beautifully with the calm strength of Roy Good's paintings. Now in his lates 70s, Roy is one of the early pioneers of modernist abstraction in New Zealand. He's allowed me to hand pick a show from his personal collection, some of which dates back to 1973!

Otherwise, there's a couple of terrific guest artists showing work—new stars such as Ara Dolatian and James Collins—and of course the sensational gallery artists!

James Collins' paintings have knocked collectors for six in a few different countries now, and although he's based in the UK, I've been begging him for months to allow me to show his work at Aotearoa Art Fair. He eventually gave in to my pestering with two magnificent paintings, Liquid Engineers 21 and 22, both from 2018.

5. Steven Stewart and Zara Sigglekow, Co-Directors at FUTURES, Melbourne

Tim Bučković is one of the most interesting painters currently working in Australia, and we've worked closely with him since the inception of FUTURES in 2021. As such, we thought it an apropos gesture to expose a slice of the newness that has recently emerged from the Melbourne art scene to New Zealand.

We're presenting a suite of seven new paintings by Tim that expand on his ever-evolving vocabulary.

Tim's work flourishes on a small scale, which is what we're emphasising. They are the biggest small paintings in the world! We've always felt that smart and concise solo presentations make a better impact on visitors who are shot with a machine gun spray of stimuli at art fairs. We're offering a place to rest in a whirlwind.

There's no trickery here. If anything it will be church-like in display, which perhaps is unusual. We're presenting a humble gathering of incredible works that are utterly irresistible. Tim's paintings require a wall, your eye and a bit of patience. They reward close study, and we've designed our booth accordingly.

6. Laree Payne, Director of Laree Payne Gallery, Hamilton

Laree Payne Gallery is presenting two presentations at the Aotearoa Art Fair. Firstly we will exhibit paintings by Laura Williams alongside ceramics by Paul Maseyk, an irreverent presentation which is on the lighter side, a fun welcome to the fair.

Our second presentation includes large format photographs by Tia Ranginui (Ngāti Hine Oneone) alongside maquette-scale sculptures by Conor Jeory (Ngāti Porou). These works converse with art history in a global sense but are distinctly Aotearoa. One of the gallery's key motivations here was relevance.

The entire gallery booth is painted in a dark navy, a colour which supports our two very different presentations.

Additionally, both presentations include sculptural work which will be shown on custom supports. Jack Hadley has been working on a dining table-sized support with bright green legs for Paul's pots. Conor Jeory's bronzes will sit on the wall on his intricately carved inverted landscape 'shelves'.

7. Melanie Tangaere Baldwin, Creative Director at Hoea! Gallery, Gisborne

Tuakana-teina (mentorship) and sharing our opportunities widely are some of our founding priorities at HOEA! When we were curating this show, we wanted to present a broad variety of contemporary Māori excellence and we wanted to make sure that we include artists at the beginning of their careers with some who are very much established.

I'm proud of all 11 artists we are working with and the works we are showing.

It will be the first time that Kristal G will show her ceramic work. With God on our Side (2022) is a large chess set that discusses the conversion of Mangaian people to Christianity. Carmel Salmanzadeh's video Ex-ile (2022) is a beautiful ode to disconnection and longing.

But yeah, those are two roses in a rose garden tbh.

Thinking about how Māori and other indigenous work has historically been 'collected' as anthropological artefacts, we thought it would be fun and interesting to present the works in a pseudo Victorian collectors parlour. —[O]