Dale Harding: There is no before / Teuane Tibbo, Ani O’Neill and Salome Tanuvasa: Stars start falling

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery offers a unique focus on art from Australasia and the Pacific arising from artists’ deep engagement within their culture and context in its exhibition suite opening May 2021, with pioneering shows by Pacific New Zealand artists Teuane Tibbo, Ani O’Neill and Salome Tanuvasa, and Indigenous Australian artist Dale Harding (Bidjara, Gungalu and Garingbal).

Stars start falling presents paintings by Teuane Tibbo, one of the first contemporary Pacific New Zealand artists to exhibit in galleries around New Zealand in the 1960s. The works selected, compiled from an extensive array of public and private collections, span the length of her practice. They demonstrate its breadth, as well as the themes and interests that preoccupied her. Stars start falling puts Tibbo’s paintings into conversation with work made by Ani O’Neill in 1999 and new commissions by Salome Tanuvasa, spanning more than 50 years of artistic practice. The artists’ shared sensitivity toward the conditions under which, and locations where, art is made gives a view of the shifting landscape of Pacific life in Aotearoa over the last 60 years.

There is no before is the first solo exhibition in Aotearoa/New Zealand by Indigenous Australian artist Dale Harding. Combining contemporary art and cultural practices that extend thousands of years, Harding presents an exhibition of minimalist paintings and sculptures that feature ochres and tree resins drawn from the Queensland central highlands. The exhibition also includes eighteen nulla nulla, rarely-exhibited taonga/treasures from the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, selected by the artist as having a connection to his family. Local contemporary Māori artist WharehokaSmith will create a work in response in dialogue with Harding.

In the gallery’s external Open Window Gallery, Paint over, use again made by Raewyn Martyn in collaboration with filmmaker Jess Charlton, is a site-responsive painting installation using plant-based polymer paints that respond to changes in natural light.

“This group of exhibitions at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre continues our support of artists living in Aotearoa and around the Pacific to create and share new work and tell the stories of place and people that resonate locally and regionally,” says Govett-Brewster Director Dr Zara Stanhope.

“The programme builds on the momentum and discussions generated by the previous exhibition Tai Moana Tai Tangata by Brett Graham, as a foundation from which to generate meaningful  conversations in our global neighbourhood.”

The Gallery’s adjoining Len Lye Centre also presents two new exhibitions of the artist’s unique performative, kinetic sculpture. The second chronological overview of his sculptural work, Tangibles: 1963–1969 presents well-known and acclaimed tangibles, Universe and Storm King alongside lesser-seen examples such as the recently reconstructed Wand Dance and Albatross. One of Lye’s most captivating large-scale projects, Wand Dance presents seven Bell Wands swaying, shaking and shimmying in a group composition – a thrilling example of Lye’s work with sensuality and scale.

These exhibitions see the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre deepening its partnership with its communities, and continuing its commissioning and presentation of contemporary art from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, and dedication to expanding the understanding of the work of Len Lye. Located in Taranaki on the west coast city of New Plymouth, the Gallery is owned and principally funded by the New Plymouth District Council.