Narrative Playgrounds is a group exhibition at Pixel Ink Gallery of visual works by emerging and established New Zealand artists. The common theme of the show is that the work is inspired by stories and the imagination.

Collage of images from the show
A collage of images from Narrative Playgrounds

Gallery director, Rosalind Clark, said the exhibition is all about translating the imagination onto a blank canvas. The artist’s brief was to capture the essence of a dramatic scene playing out in their mind and based in a familiar narrative or a creation of their own imagination. The only requirement was that the works contain a story unfolding around characters, settings or objects.

The group show features work in different disciplines and media by Ani Fourie, Autumn McGrail, Rebecca Robinson, Carmen Rogers, Charlotte Ellayne-Welch, Devon Smith, Florence Thornburn, Jinx in the Sky, KIRAN-X, Lucy Yu, Melissa McDougall, Rachel Walker, Trevor Kohing and Rosalind Clark, who are based in Wellington, New Plymouth, Taupo, Tauranga and Hamilton.

I say:

Considering an intention of a lot of pictorial graphic and visual art would already be to convey a narrative of some description, the thematic emphasis for this show really gives the artists “their head” and a lot of freedom to push some boundaries. Points of difference would be that the narrative must presumably be conveyed within a (single?) work rather than a series or body of work; and that this curatorial impetus removes the duality of allusion and the traditional opportunity for the viewer to add by inference and / or interpretation their own narrative / meaning.

The resulting work in this show will be interesting both from the point-of-view of how successful it is on its own merit and also how well the work manages its singular story-telling role. Are the stories worth telling? Is it going to mean that if you (or I) “don’t get it”, that we really don’t get it? Of that you (and I) will have to be the judge!

The exhibition Narrative Playgrounds opens at Pixel Ink Gallery on Friday 29th of April at 5.30 pm. The show runs from the 30th of April – 29th of May, 2011. Work in the show will be available for sale.

Pixel Ink Gallery, 219 Cuba Street, Wellington

Gallery opening hours:
Mon – Sat: 11.00am – 5.00pm
Sun: 11am – 4.00pm
Phone: 04-385-9136

For more information visit their website or email the gallery.