Compendium Gallery

Several weeks ago I took a visit to the Compendium Art Gallery (www.compendiumgallery.com) in the Auckland CBD.
The art gallery is on a street running alongside Queen street at 5 Lorne Street.

The art gallery itself looked nice, large viewing glass walls inviting me in from the street. Upon entering my ears were assaulted by a strange beep that persisted the whole time I was at the art gallery, this did not help make me comfortable but I put it aside.

The exhibition they were currently displaying was "Three Glass Artists via New York" and the artists involved are Emma Varga, Gerry King and Claudia Borella and between them their art styles and views are all very different. The glass art on display was a bright vivid change from some of the less colourful art I have seen more recently.

The glass art designed by Gerry King is well sculpted, to the viewer it looks as though a lot of time has been spent to get the right shapes and sizes with the glass. Bright colours like deep reds are used in conjunction with some texture. His art is "pretty" and well proportioned and is something that could light up someones home nicely.

Emma Varga has her glass art in a largely different style. She has taken the approach of more simplistic shapes like cubes and rounded the edges, making types of crystal looking cubes which bubble with light. The pieces look angry and dense. Using similar bright colours like the deep red her art has disruption within which looks like bubbles. Her art would appeal to some buyers but I would have to say from an unprofessional point of view like my own they seem to be bright, over sized glass paperweights.

With less colour and more finesse, Claudia Borella has taken an approach to the glass art from a different direction to the above two artists. Her work has flow and precision within the patterns she has created. On one of her pieces, using almost typical looking glass she has created flowing designs which have be measured out to the millimeter in a semicircle pattern. Her art appeals to me because it views like a piece of art should, in my mind. There is something holding or containing something with a unique and new look. Art should be your own and display your name without any writing if necessary. A glass cube does not do that for me.

Aside from all this art there were some brilliant paintings in the entrance of the building. Displaying landscapes and urban settings the paintings were extravagant and expressive but kept a sense of realism due to the well proportioned objects.

I enjoyed my time at Compendium Gallery because it isn't often I see art work done with glass and I think its a beautiful process to create glass masterpieces.