Laura Vodanovich: Clock ticking on popular exhibition, don't miss out

Laura Vodanovich

Time seems to fly by incredibly quickly and it's hard to believe our very popular exhibition, Out of the Box, closes in two weeks' time.

If you haven't been in to see it, or want a last look around, you need to be quick as the exhibition finishes on June 5.

This gallery, featuring about 10 per cent of our framed artworks, is a complete floor-to-ceiling hang.

Breaking away from chronological order, this display allows new interactions between artworks; for example showing 19th-century paintings next to contemporary works, which enables the viewer to see differences and make connections that might otherwise go unnoticed.

It also shows the rich diversity of the region's collection, while bringing to our attention some gaps that we'll try to fill over time.

Feedback on this gallery from the public has been overwhelmingly positive and it's proven to be one of our more popular recent displays.

Much like the 2008 exhibition, Open Home, which was equally popular, it provided an opportunity to put more on display than usual and create a particularly rich art experience.

There's sure to be at least one artwork in this gallery to appeal to each person's taste.

Replacing this exhibition in June is a touring show from Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, titled Freedom and Structure: Cubism and New Zealand Art 1930-1960.

This exhibition looks at New Zealand's response to the revolutionary new cubist style, which is possibly not a well-known period in our national art identity.

Cubism as an artistic style emerged in the early 20th century, with Pablo Picasso often cited as the creator - but more accurately it was developed in conjunction with French artist Georges Braque.

Challenging representational style, this new form experimented with showing objects from multiple perspectives all at the same time.

Braque and Picasso emphasised the flat surface of the picture canvas, rather than giving the illusion of depth.

They reduced complex forms to basic geometric shapes.

Early in the cubism period, the original subject matter could still be determined, but as the style developed, works were fragmented further into pure shapes, lines and planes without any reference to the physical world.

New Zealand was slow to adopt this radical shift in European art.

Our isolation meant new developments were slow to reach our shores and, at that time, we continued leaning towards British, rather than continental European, influences.

New Zealand audiences also tended to be very conservative and critical of artists who departed from the familiar style of clearly identifiable subjects and traditional perspectives.

Cubist art did emerge in New Zealand, albeit several decades later than overseas, but remains a lesser-known style in our national art history.

This exhibition brings together artists Colin McCahon, Louise Henderson, Melvin Day, Charles Tole, John Weeks, and Wilfred Stanley Wallis to show a uniquely New Zealand expression of cubism.

* Chamber Music New Zealand presents Masaaki Suzuki & Juilliard415, Thursday, June 1, 7:30pm, Century Theatre. Tickets available from Ticketek.

* Chris Cain Napier Jazz - Special Guest Erna Ferry, Friday, June 2, 8pm, Century Theatre. Tickets available from Ticketek.

* Ray Woolf Napier Jazz with the Hawke's Bay Jazz Club Big Band, Saturday, June 3, 8pm, Century Theatre. Tickets available from Ticketek.

* Jazz Gala: Jazz Dave Weckl, Tony Lindsay, Adam Schroeder, Sunday, June 4, 8pm, Century Theatre. Tickets available from Ticketek.

* Drop in Zone, enjoy craft activities and a reading space complementing the exhibition, Art Deco-inspired colouring wall. Open every weekend.

* Laura Vodanovich is the director of the Museum Theatre Gallery (MTG) Hawke's Bay.