Culture

DPAG
Until October 30 2011

So Critic finally got around to seeing Beloved at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, a large and diverse exhibition commemorating the gallery’s 125th anniversary. The show flaunts the gallery’s permanent collection and celebrates six centuries of art from New Zealand and abroad. 
The show dominates the bottom floor of the gallery, and is divided into various sections based on aesthetic sensibility rather than date. Each room is painted a different bold colour, which, while at points is a touch overwhelming, grounds the display in a fun and contemporary atmosphere. After seeing a quick taste of the eclectic mix in the foyer – the stunning circular pre-Raphaelite work Eros next to a Goldie and an Angus – you enter the large blue room called ‘New Sensations’. I was surprised to be confronted by a massive glittering wall of small metallic discs depicting a simplified twilight beachscape. Reuben Patterson’s work twinkles in constant motion from the large fan positioned in front of it and, though this ‘70s work now seems at bit gaudy, it demands the viewer’s attention for a prolonged moment. Elsewhere in this section is an abstract tilted canvas of Milan Mrkusich, a bizarre and comical assemblage work by Don Driver, a lurid expressionist Philip Clairmont painting, and the iconic simplified koru of Gordon Walters. 
In the other sections of the exhibition, contemporary works hang next to centuries-old portraits, landscapes, and religious works from around the globe. Led down into the small ‘Spiritualised’ room by Michael Parakowhai’s ‘koru colonnade’ of light boxes, you end up smack in front of a giant unstretched McCahon canvas, The Five Wounds of Christ. Surrounded by religious paintings from pre to high Renaissance, McCahon’s monochromatic abstract cross certainly stands out, but this grouping allows for a different reading of the work than if it were hung with other abstract works of its time. The same goes for Robin White’s regionalist portrait of Sam Hunt and Frances Hodgkin’s floating still life, which are grouped with lavish and decadently framed portraits in the ‘Gender Face-Off’ room.
The show is curated with a novel and vibrant approach. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of contemporary works on show and the juxtaposition of new and old made for a refreshing viewing experience.