4 – 3 Painters and A Photographer

The simply named '4' brings together photographer Niki Hill and three painters—Sharon Cowley Vickers, Carole Prentice and Clare Young—in a compelling exhibition that highlights the four artists’ distinctive styles and points of view.

While Carole and Sharon both explore personal history, their approach differs. Carole’s series of small paintings on recycled platters are a ‘wink to the past’, to her childhood stamping ground along the Tamaki River and around Maungarei/Mt Wellington. Sharon’s portraits of her parents within landscapes use details of clothing to reimagine past experiences and relationships with family.

Clare’s ‘Mappa Mundi’ series explores her ongoing interest in landscape as a fluid space where she can ‘observe relations between past and present, order and disorder, presence and absence, culture and nature’. ‘Plato’s Paradox’, Niki’s thought-provoking collection of shrouded figures set against a black background, conjure alienated beings in darkness. They relate to her experience as the mother of a child born with cerebral palsy in a largely ableist society that discriminates against those with disabilities and their families.

There will be an artists' floor talk at the gallery at 2pm on Sunday 1 September.