55Matchitt’swordsstatedemandsrather
than wishes. The flag on which it is
based proposes movement (were it to
fly in the air, buffeted by winds), while
referencing both land and sea.
Cathy Tuato’o Ross travelled from
Whangarei to attend the opening
and received a merit award for
Reason: Shame. At first glance this
hand-painted photograph might
appear to be a flower picture, but
Tuato’o Ross refused to let it remain
so. Technically ambiguous—where
did the hand-painting begin and/or
end?—it presents a bouquet of flowers
as something deathly, a contra-floral
argument that stems from the fetid and
the obsessive.
Matthew Browne earned the other
merit award of $1000, for his abstract
painting Anecdoche. Formally balanced,
with a minimal yet delicate use of
colour, the artist has created a work
that displays the process of self-
interrogation and negotiation, yet also
its path to resolution and harmony.
Pardington’s choices were popular.
Being a sole judge, the competition
and winners reflected some of the
qualities of her own work: a strong
sense of compositional form and
a high proficiency of finish and
professionalism. She also expressed
enthusiasm for well-composed artist’s
statements; it is unsurprising that
all the winners supplied words that
complemented and enhanced their
submitted works.
There were many satisfying entries
in the show that did not receive a
prize; Pardington also commented
that a few more merit prizes would
have made her job easier. Gerry
Parke’s energised cluster of men,
titled What the People Really Want, was
terrific—passionate in its composition
and fearless in its approach and use
of colour. It made Laura Williams’
nearby Meadow Larks seem placid and
pastoral, until closer scrutiny revealed
an Edenish circle jerk, surrounded by
alligators and turkeys, looking like
dislocated Renaissance symbols of
danger and fecundity.
Sculpture was particularly strong:
Oleg Polounine used shadow and
angle to create an arresting 3-D
piece of geometric abstraction,
and Andrea du Chatenier turned
ceramic into marshmallow or icing,
seeming somehow to catch it mid-
melt. Cat Fooks made a great piece ofbrusqueness, juxtaposing the awkward
with the cumbersome, making it all fit
together like a jigsaw. Aaron Frater’s
Sign of the Times created and dwelled
in its own negative space, catching and
dazzling the eye with that thin barrier
mesh that seems to dissolve the longer
you look at it. Kate Lepper’s Soft
Protest amused, with its pillow-like,
card-carrying seriousness.
Photographs stood out as well: Russ
Flatt’s self-presentation as a potato in
the face of Brian Tamaki’s social media
twitterings raised a smile or two, and
Caryline Boreham disturbed with a
clinical image of the medication that
her father takes following his diagnosis
with Parkinson’s disease.
Around the corner and on the wall
Somewhere Over That Rainbow by Jane
Johnson-Matua was proof that the
found object will always remain a
valid material for contemporary art.
Bright, light and witty, this collection
of refashioned, repainted bed legs
and corkscrews brought the Salvation
Army, the $2 shop, a microcosmic drag
show and Degas into the gallery with a
rare kind of refinement.(opposite above) Dunedin-based artist
Ayesha Green with her winning work
Nana’s Birthday (A Big Breath)
(opposite below) The 2019 National
Contemporary Art Award at Waikato
Museum, showing Gina Matchitt’s runner-
up prize-winning He Tohutono
(Photograph: Studio Guidon)
(right) GERRY PARKE
What the People Really Want 2019
Acrylic, charcoal & spray paint on board,
1830 x 2440 mm.
(below left) CATHY TUATO’O ROSS
Reason: Shame 2019
Hand-painted photograph (gouache on
pigment print), 510 x 450 mm.
(below) JANE JOHNSON-MATUA
Somewhere Over That Rainbow 2019
Pine bed legs, metal wing corkscrews,
fluorescent pigment, Black 2.0 & chiral
liquid