The galleries: Wilde ways forever young

Head For My Father evinces the control Richard McWhannell always has over his work.

Some things stay forever young and fresh. Painting is one of them, although its death is often prophesised. There is a stack of lively shows of painting in Auckland this week and it is appropriate that one of them is based on Oscar Wilde's story of the man who stayed perpetually young.

At dealer galleries, shows based on a theme are rare, so the by-invitation exhibition The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Studio of Contemporary Art in Newmarket until August 26 is unusual and welcome.

Wilde's story of the elegant but sinful man who stayed young - while his portrait reflected his debauchery - has become a special sort of story, entering into the realms of Gothic myth and metaphor.

The mythical level allows a variety of interpretations that can go beyond simple illustration, reflected in this show by a variety of styles.

The work furthest from illustration is one of those postmodern works that employ tar, nails and straw as well as paint to make thick relief textures which are part of a grand metaphor, moving from attractive light through a painful transformation into turgid darkness. This work, by James Robinson, is at one extreme.

At the other extreme is the smooth portrait by Matt Gauldie of an immaculately dressed, handsome, confident young man. It is called Eternal Perfection, the label on the image of a cosmetic bottle which is part of the painting. This is labouring the point, as the portrait by itself fits the theme quite elegantly.

Sitting between these extremes is the magical work done on a mirror by Donna Demente. Where other artists in the show evoke the period of the novel by painting their subjects in bow-tie and wing collar, Demente sets the painting in time and place by an extravagantly opulent gilded frame.

The face has the still monumentality that suggests endless contemplation of self and reflects the myth of Narcissus, which is behind the Wilde story.

A work that makes the paint itself an equivalent for the narrative is a fine work by Paul van den Bergh of two confrontational figures - one where the paint is firm and decisive, the other where it dissolves and runs.

Other works are more literal. A close rereading of the story is not necessary to enjoy this intriguing show but it may help to follow what a literary modern portrayal of the theme is achieved in Barry Ross Smith's Reclining Bather.

Among the lively exhibitions of paintings are a couple that cannot be commented on but deserve a note of record.

One is the works of final-year Elam students at the Edmiston Duke Gallery, which features a surprising amount of old-fashioned painting. It is not customary to comment on the work of students under academic evaluation but it is well worth a visit.

The remarkable phenomenon of the work of the young artist Rozi Demant at the Warwick Henderson Gallery, was a complete sellout at the opening, her third such in as many years.

It is now closed so detailed comment of her unusual images will have to wait until next year's show. The exhibition certainly made a point about the perpetual appeal of painted images, however bizarre.

The painting virtuosity of Richard McWhannell is applied to portraits and landscapes at the John Leech Gallery until August 27.

The control of effect he has is as much evident in large self-portraits, such as the over-lifesize Head For My Father as it is in the tiny and beautifully atmospheric Approaching Pararaha Point on a Moonlit Night.

The landscape of Pararaha is something McWhannell has made his own. His painting and his special range of colour are equally effective on the brooding hills in the background as in the featheriness of toetoe. The only drawback is that this is ground that McWhannell has traversed before and his confident painting does not seem to have found room for development.

Another skilled painter who keeps on digging at her special vein of ore is Gerda Leenards, whose work is at Artis Gallery until August 28.

Her great thing has always been painting the mist.

Her soft focus paintings show headlands, sea and lake - anywhere where interpretation of land and water can be a subject to contrast the flat plane of the water with the strong shape of the hills and a vista of misty distance.

In this display, the effects of light on sea and land are principally in shades of blue with some soft brown.

Titles such as Floating, Drifting and Receding are exact descriptors of the work. Receding is a particularly effective painting of water, headlands and clouds.