Various Artists with Sofia & Maya

August Ward is an artist who grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau, whose primarily painting practice explores the visual signature and emblems of affluence and desire, consumption and the idealised female form – existing in the uncanny valley of womanhood, letting the contrast and intersection of imperfection and glamour lead the work both practically and conceptually. 

Her current solo exhibition at Ivan Anthony, World of Interiors, sees Ward furthering her exploration in this realm of subject matter, expanding her painting and drawing practice in scale and form, bringing these sculptural qualities into the works and space surrounding. Crystals adorning the canvas to form a necklace, ledges attached at the base of others with taxidermied mice, and a cavity for a Miss Dior perfume to perch, these symbols become physical adornments to the glamour of their pictorial counterparts. Pushing and pulling each painting’s textural potential, the idea of the surface sits at the forefront of her relationship with oil paint and graphite as her primary mediums. 

Sof caught up with August about World of Interiors ahead of its opening tonight.

The McCahon House Trust was established in 1999, to recognise the life and art of Colin McCahon during the transformative period where the family lived in Titirangi. The McCahon House Trust upholds this by offering the Parehuia Artist Residency, where artists are offered a place to live on site, as well as an artist studio to work out of. 

This is a wonderful programme that has been designed to support Artists at these pivotal moments in their career. The residency providing time, space, and support for artists to really hone into the development of their practice. 

Helping in supporting this great program to stay thriving The McCahon House Trust has recently announced a nationwide raffle of one Judy Millar's Major works, Hard Epic. The initiative drawing on the historic Art Union tradition, as well as marking the twentieth anniversary of the Parehuia Artist residency. The raffle Inviting the wider public to help participate in the sustaining of this wonderful art program.  

Judy Millar is one of Aotearoa’s most distinguished and internationally acclaimed artists, producing breathtaking large-scale abstract paintings. Millar holds a close place in her heart for the Parehuia artist residency, as she was the very first artist to be invited to live and work on site. Her time there came at a pivotal time in her artistic career, and provided her time to focus on her practice. 

Millar now serves as a trustee of the McCahon house and is passionate about giving back to the next generation of artists here in Aotearoa.

Maya caught up with Judy about the raffle, and the importance of the Parehuia Artist Residency.

Rosa Allison is a Pōneke-based artist primarily working amongst a painting practice. Producing beautiful oil paintings on canvas that are heavily informed by the natural world. 

Her current show an at Melanie Roger Gallery, Veriditas showcases a stunning series of paintings that continues in Allison's exploration of the natural world. The title of the show itself Veriditas, refers to a concept coined by 12th Century German Mystic, Hildegard Von Bingen. The word refers to a kind of greenness, a vitality and lifeforce that inhibits all living things. Like a sap that flows through the natural world, embodying all things with a kind of liveliness. In turn re-imagining the divine as not something that sits above nature, but rather within nature. 

The works themselves lean into this exploration of Veriditas, taking on this enriched green colour pallet that flows between works to create a visual landscape of greenness. Slipping in between abstraction and figuration, with imagery of snakes, birds, plants, mushrooms, and human bodies— both arising and slipping back into the work itself. Resulting in a luminous exhibition that pulls viewers into a space of liveliness that re-centers nature, and our ecological system.

Maya caught up with Rosa about the show as well as her overall practice.

Sof caught up with director of Grace Aotearoa, Emil Scheffmann, about their recent move from Pitt Street to Rationalist House on Symonds Street, as well as their current joint exhibition showing Atarangi Anderson and Georgia Tikaputini Douglas Hood, Mau Āhua. 

Maya caught up with Rosa Allison about her current show on at Melanie Roger Gallery, Veriditas.

Whakarongo mai x