Orexart Gallery

The Orexart gallery (www.orexgallery.co.nz) was an interesting and small gallery which had two artists work on display at the time I was there.

After walking in the door I was confronted by some of Jennifer Masons work which caught my eye because of the vivid bright colour of a splash of red water around a persons face. A large picture which looked slightly out of control like there was a large amount of randomness within its creation. Her work seems all like this to my eyes. It all looks very hard to describe and explain although I was told her work was very in depth and she took a large amount of time toward preparing photographs and setting them up.

Her work was not very attractive to me due to the simple ideas she has for her work. A lot of the work she had on display was pictures of families or friends who are involved in several ways like watching television together. Each of these pictures has been doctored in some way to involve distortions or a random array of objects which you would not normally see in the photographs situation.

Not all of these pictures I thought were unappealing but they do not seem very imaginative and I think from a life of growing up with my father enjoying photographing amazing Otago landscapes (Barrie Wills) I've come accustom to realistic photos that don't have strange anomalies and weird distortions.

The second artist at the Orexart Gallery was Richard Adams. His work reminds me of something similar I attempted in High School art class where I sectioned off the canvas and used contrasting colours in different sections. Although I went further with this sort of idea and had characters and objects in a landscape or structure it does take me back. I think art like this is very comforting because it doesn't invade the viewer with things he or she may not like. Every one in the world has a favorite colour or shape and the simplistic design features with rough brush strokes make the art look rustic and homely. Something I would hang over a fireplace or in the living room. His use of earthy colours and lack of bright ones also appeals to me, it doesn't assault the eyes and cause distractions and his sectioning allows flow within the painting.

I enjoyed my time at Orexart Gallery although not all of the art was what I prefer, everyone has a personal preference and obviously some people will disagree with my opinions.