Ross Ritchie’s paintings in the exhibition Trompe l’Oeuvre, identify this important post-modern artist as a collector of ideas and artefacts, and as an observer of social change and history. He describes a witty montage of ideas, and tells a personal story by painting narrative props such as collected objects, art historical references, and personal/domestic material. And he imbues it all with a unique sentiment and significance.

Just as the colonials travelled here to collect (and colonise), so Ritchie presents collected items in his work. The effect of all the vessels, bones, and artist implements that sit within the divided and segmented or compartmentalised spaces in Ritchie’s paintings, is like an op shop or museum case. There is a humanistic focus on the realism of decay and change in Ritchie’s work, but also a certain reverence and a desire to be ‘true’. This is emphasised by the manner in which individual items are affectionately and accurately painted.

Colin McCahon was a friend and mentor of Ross Ritchie, and these painters have certain important attributes in common: Both have painted their description of the unravelling of the colonial experience. Both have explored the currency of numbers and text-like markings in painting, and both have articulated a personal mythology about New Zealand. The unique voice of each artist is a merger of the personal with the historical.

An important aspect of Trompe l’Oeuvre is that it reveals the self-referencing within Ritchie’s painting. He can - by virtue of his long time commitment to certain topics and imagery, and his unique treatment of borrowed elements, claim all symbols and references as his own - including the McCahon-esque plains in some of the works from Voices 2004. Ritchie appropriates from a pool of the elements and stylistic tendencies that he has developed over time. This is his trompe l’oeuvre.

A Catalogue is available for purchase at $12