in our backyard

Tomorrow (Thursday the 31st of May) night in Auckland there will be an exhibition opening for In Our Backyard. This is a group show and is part of the Auckland Festival of Photography, I have some of my Whaingaroa work in it, and some new work (as seen on the invite above).
All are welcome to attend the opening for some drinks and nibbles, just RSVP (click on the invite to make it larger to see the details). If you can't make it to the opening, it'll be on till the 13th of June. Go to the gallerys website for more details. There are lots of other exciting exhibitions on at the same time, one of them being a friend of mine, Andy.... and since he mentioned my exhibition on his blog I thought I should do the same for him. Here is his invite -

Anthony Harper Award

The Centre of Contemporary Art In Christchurch is the host to the Anthony Harper Art Award, of which my piece Tumult is a finalist. It runs from the 30th May – 16th June
Opening and winners announced 29th May

Here is the blurb!

"The CoCA/Anthony Harper Award for Contemporary Art is valued at $10,000 and in 2007 received more than 300 entries from throughout New Zealand. The judge for this year’s award is well-known New Zealand artist, Dick Frizzell whose work was the subject of a major retrospective, Portrait of a Serious Artiste, curated by Alan Smith at the City Gallery Wellington in 1977. The winner will be announced at a special function, Tuesday 29th June at 5.30pm. To attend please contact COCA for further details. (reception@coca.org.nz) This will be a ticketed function with wine and food and is available to members with a 20% discount ($8.00)."

If you find yourself in Christchurch on the 29th, attend the opening, it should be very good, and ensure you drop in to the gallery before the 16th of June to see the exhibition. The winner will be announced on the opening night, and you can also see a list of the finalists and as of the 30th the details of the winnner and judges statement on their website www.coca.org.nz

life and death

This is one of my personal favourites from my 2005 show permanence that was shown at Photospace in Wellington.

I was intrigued at people reactions to it, many asking if it was just sleeping, others tentatively asking 'is it ummmmm... dead?'

How interesting, is it our optimistic sides coming out, or can we not comprehend death so easily in something so sweet and innocent as a little lamb. Or is it not obvious that this lamb is lying dead on the side of a gravel road, killed, i'd say by a car.

This image is of an edition of three, is a silver gelatin print and is still available for purchase.

in the sand

in any spare time, i can often be found on the sand or in the water. It's in my blood I think. Whether it's for sport, or time out, that's where I'll normaly be.

In saying that though, I do go other places too, next week I'll be in Melbourne, I'm hoping that I may be able to get my toes in some sand there too though!!

Nakedness and our reaction to nakedness

There are so many similarities in each of us, and yet we feel there is so much to hide. Why?

Here is one person's reaction to a naked female mannequin.

the phallic flower

If you were browsing on this blog just before Christmas this year, you may remember my post 'one more before Christmas'. On it, I noted how I had just found a very beautiful yet phallic flower in my backyard. I posted a snap at the time taken on my digital camera. Here one of the photos I took on my 'real' camera.

four legged chicken

A few months ago I got the privilege to meet a four legged chick (of the hen type variety). Most of my cameras don't appreciate close up work, that is unless you like it all out of focus, so it was hard to get a decent picture of it. But here it is, more for the unique value than the amazing image value mind you. Aparerently it is one of only two known to have survived. Yes it is alive in this photo... and don't forget you can make the picture larger by clicking on it.