In the Museum of Curious Intent

When Arlo Edwards approached an art deal­er with his work at the age of eigh­teen, the deal­er told him to “come back in 10 years, and then maybe we’ll look at your work”.

Not con­tent with such a response, Arlo embarked on a some­what unortho­dox cura­to­r­i­al career, and has been putting on exhi­bi­tions when and wher­ev­er he could for more than a decade.

Toi Pōneke Gallery is the next venue for one of his projects, an exhi­bi­tion of work by 10 local estab­lished and emerg­ing artists. The show, enti­tled In the Muse­um of Curi­ous Intent, includes work by Chris Lundquist, Free­man White, William Hed­ley, James Fly­nn, Jay­mi Biz­zo Lawrence, Roger Mor­ris, Mar­i­anne Mug­geridge, Gareth Moon, Rupert Ever­est and some of Arlo’s own work.

In the Muse­um of Curi­ous Intent opens at 6.30pm on Fri­day 26 Sep­tem­ber and runs until 25 Octo­ber at Toi Pōneke Gallery, 61 — 63 Abel Smith Street.

Read more after the jump…

Arlo takes pride in the look and feel of an exhi­bi­tion, and will put his all into mak­ing the launch of the exhi­bi­tion (26 Sep­tem­ber) a night to remem­ber. He says the gallery will be lit for a dark­ened set­ting, com­pli­ment­ed by red vel­vet cur­tains, extra­or­di­nary instal­la­tions and a rich accom­pa­ni­ment of sound.

“I want make a show that looks like a mil­lion dol­lars on $20,” he says. “By incor­po­rat­ing lots of dif­fer­ent medi­ums includ­ing paint­ing, pho­tog­ra­phy, instal­la­tion and robot­ics, this show will have some­thing for every­one.”

“I know it is not real­ly the done thing to include some of your own work in a show, but to be hon­est, I have nev­er gone by the insti­tu­tion­al book when it comes to cura­to­r­i­al work,” he says.

Arlo says that the cul­mi­na­tion of emerg­ing artists and estab­lished artists, some of whom have won the pres­ti­gious Adam Por­trai­ture Award, will present a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for them to expe­ri­ence the joy of being part of a col­lab­o­ra­tive com­mu­ni­ty – one that will hope­ful­ly draw all sorts of peo­ple to the gallery – from fre­quent gallery vis­i­tors to the not-so-fre­quent.

“I will be at the gallery for the dura­tion of the exhi­bi­tion as much as pos­si­ble, so if some­body wants to know the mean­ing of a pile of ash­es sit­ting in the cor­ner of the gallery, for exam­ple, they will be able to ask some­one about it and become more engaged in the exhi­bi­tion,” he says.

“It’s all part of what I love to do. If it’s not mak­ing art – it’s encour­ag­ing oth­ers to cre­ate and exhib­it, and also encour­ag­ing the whole com­mu­ni­ty to enjoy it.”

In the Muse­um of Curi­ous Intent
27 Sep­tem­ber to 25 Octo­ber
Toi Pōneke Gallery
61 — 63 Abel Smith Street
Open­ing cel­e­bra­tion: 6.30pm on Fri­day 26 Sep­tem­ber