PARALLEL’s explicit intention is to provide those who are unable to attend the Auckland Art Fair (August 4-7) an opportunity to view significant works by those artists Milford Galleries Dunedin will feature.

PARALLEL includes Michael Hight’s Lees Valley Road where winter snow and weathered texture sit in sharp contrast.

Roy Dunningham writes of Gary Waldrom “There is no artist like Waldrom in NZ art” who presents “individuals of such disturbingly vivid presence.” (1) Stone Mansion and Fairground compellingly testify to this. If Waldrom disturbs then Joanna Braithwaite skewers the mundane with the insights of juxtaposition and surreal humour.

Garry Currin replicates and invents by revealing and deceiving in works of astonishing beauty, subtlety and complexity. In Annunciation something is just about to happen, but what?

Neil Frazer builds the surface of his works with such sculptural volume, physical texture and suggestion it is as if we are in the landscape itself.

Reuben Paterson captures the prismatic sensory effects of a kaleidoscope in works that shudder with light and colour.

Lorraine Rastorfer’s seemingly restrained palette allows the rhythms of motion and line to bend and flow.

Peata Larkin hides pattern that the viewer liberates in paintings which traverse the traditions of weaving, Maori geometric design and the digital world.

Andy Leleisi’uao, unmistakably one of the most distinctive voices emerging in New Zealand art, has developed a calligraphic quality in works which are epic in scale, uniting the power of hieroglyphs with the social narrative of contemporary cartoon.

Neil Dawson’s sculptures have a pictorial language that sources architecture, shadow and pattern. Vanishing Point 13 presents his cone form made iconic with the Chalice in Christchurch Square. Whare is a literal work which has a social and political overlay, where powerful dialogues of culture, identity and place emerge.

Ann Robinson’s use of glass mass is sculptural in character. United with the unique tonal properties of the medium is her mastery of form, design and a naturalistic language.

1. Roy Dunningham, “Confessions of an Art Junkie,” Bay Buzz, 8 July 2011.