In the spirit of Graeme Mudge

ALL IN THE FAMILY: The late Graeme Mudge’s family members Annaliese (left), Lisette and Conrad Mudge prepare to hold an exhibition of Graeme Mudge’s work at the family home. The art work is a a witty representation of the artist. Picture by Liam Clayton

THREE years have passed since Graeme Mudge left this world but his family is still finding art work they had not seen before. Some of those pieces will be shown in an exhibition of the artist’s paintings and sculptures at the family home this Friday and Saturday.

The exhibition was an annual tradition that included a glass of sherry. This year, Lisette Mudge, and her and Graeme’s grown-up children Annaliese and Conrad, have revived that tradition.

“It’s a good time to bring these works out into the light again,” says Lisette.

“This time we have uncovered paintings of sculptures we found in a bag in the shed.”

The paintings span the art historical continuum from Classical Greek works to contemporary pieces such as early modernist Marcel Duchamp’s upturned urinal, Fountain. Many are free-standing and were probably used as teaching aids.

A representation of Pablo Picasso’s 1908 bronze sculpture, Head of a Woman, is made from layers of card to suggest in a tactile way the angular planes the Cubist used to simplify the form. Also to resurface was an illustrated book Mudge created for Annaliese.

“In the book I needed a story for school,” says Annaliese.

“I’d taken Conrad for a walk and I saw a UFO and a bit falls off so I take it to school and say I saw a UFO and met this spaceman,” says Annaliese.

“I take the piece out of my pocket and show it to the kids.

“From then on Conrad and I always liked Star Wars.”

Another rediscovery was a cardboard cut-out frieze of shop and business frontages in the Gisborne CBD.

“There’s still too much to bring everything out,” says Lisette.

An exhibition of paintings, sculptures and works by the late Graeme Mudge, 157 Ormond Road, Friday and Saturday from 9am.