Gallery opens summer season of art

 

Artist Ian McGowan will be holding his second joint exhibition with Rosina Kamphuis at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery, opening late August.

As a kid, Ian McGowan enjoyed painting the natural world, and later while at art school was introduced to the art of Picasso.

The patterns and mysteries Picasso revealed in the many dimensions innate in all man-made objects and nature have similarly preoccupied Ian's creative life.

This compels him to look for opportunities to explore and challenge peoples' sense of the familiar, and to see if there are other ways to present common ideas.

Ian says the inter-connectedness and networks of nature fascinate him, for example, the totara's surface root system is a mass of fine delicate lace-like tentacles – reminding him of the fibre optics that power the internet.

As he paints he often considers the current concerns of our impact on nature. He is also intrigued by the connection between man-made culture, myth and nature, and how artists reflect that in their work.

While his colours are synthetic, nature's energy runs through all his work, and the delicate lace-like tentacles of the totara provide the motif his forthcoming show draws upon, in a free and expressive way.

n McGowan & Kamphuis joint exhibition, Aug 27-Sept 5, 9am-3pm. For more information go to mangawhaiartists.co.nz.

IDEAS: Ian McGowan says the inter-connectedness and networks of nature fascinate him and reflect in his work.