Wesley John Fourie: They Came to Me in the Night

"They Came to Me in the Night: Selected Works by Wesley John Fourie"
26 August–24 September 2022

The exhibition “They Came to Me in the Night: Selected Works by Wesley John Fourie” (26 August–24 September 2022) brings together artworks produced through a diverse set of practices, from embroidery to oil painting. More significantly, the exhibition documents the artist’s experience over the past few years, resulting in what can only be described as an outpouring of expressivity. This exhibition records, in the words of fellow artist Felix Harris, a “journey, somewhat of a slippery slope at times, with its longing and heartache.” Bridie Lonie concurs, observing that “even as the artworks record moments of loss or difficulty, they are easeful and celebratory.”

Fourie explains: “This show is very much what I feel like is going on in my brain at the moment. Reflecting on old memories, insomnia, the lonely figures, trying to work through relationships with our rapidly changing natural environment…some bizarre sort of mourning, but in the happiest colours possible.”

This sense of loss permeates Fourie’s romantic reminiscences, but also his depictions of the forest, as a “dream” or a “ghost.” And yet, Fourie’s work is imbued with a stubborn optimism. In an embroidery exhibited in an earlier exhibition, the artist exhorts the viewer “BE KIND/STAY GENTLE/AND NEVER/BE AFRAID/TO LOVE.” Fourie eschews the violent rhetoric of current activism, asking us in a melodious and hopeful voice to consider our future together in a world that includes trees as well as humans. Not coincidentally, Alistair Fox reports that “[w]ithin the forest, Fourie tells us, there is “a spirit tree”––a gigantic kahikatea “that stole my heart more than any man ever has.”

As such it is difficult to disagree with Alistair Fox when he writes that “the works in this show provide ample testimony to an artist who has developed a distinctive personal vision of the inseparable interconnection between the affective lives of human beings and the natural environment in which they live.”

REFERENCES: Fox, Alistair and Hilary Radner, eds., WESLEY JOHN FOURIE: THEY CAME TO ME IN THE NIGHT. Dunedin: RDS Gallery, 2022 [with essays by Bridie Lonie and Alistair Fox]; Fourie, Wesley John, Felix Harris and Taarn Scott, ARTISTS KŌRERO. Dunedin: RDS Gallery, 2022.

Artist's Biography

Wesley John Fourie (they, their) identifies as a queer artist whose multi-faceted art practice explores themes of nature, spirituality, and sexuality, predominantly through the use of textiles. The years that they spent in Ōtepoti|Dunedin had a formative influence on their practice and they regularly collaborate with Ōtepoti-based artists Taarn Scott and Hana Pera Aoake, including the recent exhibitions “The Future of Dirt,” RM Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau|Auckland, June 2022 and “Invasive Weeds,” the Physics Room, Ōtautahi|Christchurch, July 2022; “Endless Sky of Honey,” Meanwhile Gallery, Poneke|Wellington, July 2022.

They were awarded the 2021 Molly Morpeth Canaday Youth Award and have been a finalist in the National Painting and Printmaking Award (2021), and the Wallace Art Awards (2020). Recent exhibitions include: “The Dance,” Window Gallery, University of Auckland, 2022; “i followed you Into the sea,” Whakatane Library & Exhibition Centre, Whakatane, 2022; “i dream a rain forest” at Malcolm Smith Gallery, Uxbridge Art Centre, 2022 and “From Across Bodies of Water and Other Transient Objects,” with Rozana Lee, at Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato, 2022.

They are interested in creating a conversation around the preservation of our natural environment within the context of contemporary art. When not in their studio, they can usually be found somewhere in the bush.

Images courtesy of the artist , Tia, and Marc at Broker Galleries.