Various Artists with Sofia & Maya

To celebrate the second year of Various Artists, and the first helmed by us, this week we looked back at some highlights of our year.

We listened back to:

Sofia's kōrero with gallerist and curator Melanie Roger about a group exhibition at Melanie Roger Gallery, the Secret Life of Plants, from October.

Beth's kōrero with Ross Deans, Jodie Yawa McMillan and Madi Macdonald about Through the Lens: Gendered Reflections, an exhibition of photography by women artists, spanning a period of over 40 years from September.

Sofia's interview package for the 2024 Elam Graduate Show - speaking to recent Capstone graduates Rainer Majsa, Maya Reed, and Talei Elvy, as well as Masters graduates Emily Brown and Aidan McNeillage - from November.

And Beth's kōrero with British author Amy Twigg about her debut novel Spoilt Creatures, ‘a simmering debut, heady with the possibilities of language and the righteousness of female rage’ from back in July.

And for Stage Direction this week: Alice Canton joined us in the studio to speak with some of the organisers of the Festival of Sumad at the Button Factory - brought to you by the organisers of the Gaza Dialogues and Make art not War.

Ngā mihi nui to everyone who spoke with us this year, it's been a pleasure x

Charles Ninow is a new gallery space that has recently opened at 102/203 Karangahape Road. 

Ninow is a dealer, auctioneer, and promoter of fine art in Aotearoa who draws inspiration from the first-principles approach of New Zealand’s earliest commercial galleries of the 1960s and 1970s, believing in the transformative power of art by committing to expanding its audience.

Ralph Paine: Leaves from a Pillow Book is Ninow’s first and opening exhibition in this new space, continuing on from some of the less well known artists and projects he worked on and championed at his former boutique gallery and auction house, Bowerbank Ninow. 

Sofia caught up with Charles about the new space and the exhibition by Paine.

Chloe Summerhayes is a visual artist who often explores themes of the subconscious in her work. Her recent works are currently being exhibited at Suite Gallery in Ponsonby alongside those of artist Jeremy Piert.

Suite writes that Summerhayes’ work ‘often references the romantic and phantasmal history of painting whilst contending with the anxieties of the contemporary world.

'[Her] practice reflects the complex nature of mortal existence by finding and straddling the ‘in between’ spaces regarding dualities such as reduction/addition, minimalism/excess and abstraction/figuration.’

Beth caught up with Chloe about her recent works.

Toi Te Mana: an Indigenous History of Māori Art is a landmark account in words and pictures of Māori art by Māori art historians Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Associate Professor Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou), with the late Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī). 

Published last month, the authors explore a wide field of art practice from the arrival of Pacific voyagers 800 years ago to contemporary artists in Aotearoa and around the world today. 

Sofia had a kōrero with co-author Deidre Brown about Toi Te Mana, its content, and the significance of the book.