Never an Answer
12 Abstract Painters
5 May – 10 June 2018
Created especially for The Vivian to celebrate 125-years of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, we’re enormously proud to present our first all-women painting show Never an Answer – 12 Abstract Painters. Curated by Linda Tyler and Lucinda Bennett, it showcases the work of some of our most outstanding young abstract painters. This show also features two major Sally Gabori works, shown for the very first time in New Zealand.
Sally Gabori
My Country, 2011
2018 marks the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand. One of the aims of the Suffrage 125 commemorations is to celebrate game-changing individuals of a range of ages and cultural and socio-economic backgrounds who do extraordinary things to create positive social change for women and New Zealand. We have chosen this moment to celebrate an eclectic group of abstract painters who are women.
Christina Pataialii
Curtain, 2018
Artists include:
Anoushka Akel
Emelia French
Lucy Gill
Ruth Ige
Claudia Jowitt
Viv Kepes
Motoko Kikkawa
Christina Pataialii
Kim Pieters
Tira Walsh
Vivienne Worn
Sally Gabori
Motoko Kikkawa
Untitled, 2018
Lucy Gill
Small Beginnings, 2017
Viv Kepes
Archil, 2017
Each of the 12 abstract painters in Never an Answer takes the language of abstraction and uses it to their own ends. They explore new ways of painting based on experimental, process-oriented methods. Intended to take common imagery and make it strange, their works preclude figurative recognition or easy comprehension. By devoting themselves to process, these artists experience revelation in the deliberate progression of steps of creative expression.
Ruth Ige
This silence knows your well, 2018
Kim Pieters
In my room, the world is beyond my understanding, But when I walk I see that it consists of three or four hills and a cloud, 2015–2016
Claudia Jowitt
Cakau I, 2017
Vivienne Worn
Beginnings VII (Lavinia Fontana), 2017
Tira Walsh
Rockstar, 2017
Anoushka Akel
Bending blue, 2015
Emelia French
Eggshells (5), 2017