CoCA - Centre of Contemporary Art

Tjalling De Vries, Emma Fitts and Scott Flanagan’s works in Contemporary Christchurch. Photo: Daniela Aebli

CoCA’s Contemporary Christchurch Exhibition is a showcase of Christchurch artists who are leaving their mark on today’s local art scene, one that according to CoCA’s advertising is, “Post quake, a rich and dynamic moment.” So it’s pertinent to ask why these thirteen artists were selected to represent our post-quake city.

The panel tasked with selection are recognised as highly respected arbiters of art, so we can trust that the resulting diverse and almost disparate exhibition is of work at the cutting edge of contemporary art. 

Their selection also provides the viewer with a wide range of media and treatments in use by local artists linked only by their place of work, begging the question, which indeed CoCA asks. ‘Does place have an impact on practice?’
The answer from this selection is ‘Probably not,’ but the exhibition’s resulting diversity makes for an appealing and unique experience and, not surprisingly, confirms a move away from painting.

What paintings there are, make an impact with their casual and unconventional placement stacked along a wall. Tjalling de Vries’s series of stacked linen canvases, certainly asks questions of painting and what the viewer expects from this representational form that has become outmoded . 

De Vries and the only other painter, James Oram, are almost the bit players in the larger drama of the show for it is the video art that steals the limelight and not just as a visual medium but also as novel material for sculpture, with Scott Flanagan’s arresting installation cum sculpture. 

Placement in a gallery is an important aspect of curating a show and the decision to place Flanagan’s Wild South-Young Mountains, 2015’ on the back wall presents it as a star. And a star it is. Ingenious in his choice of materials, using VHS tape, pointedly redundant since the development of digital technology, he has woven a blanket that alludes to the beginnings of computing and its surprising connection to weaving. A clever touch in the curating is that to reach the Flanagan piece one walks through and around the textile hangings of Emma Fitts, reminding the viewer of the art to be found in fabric design, a field previously undervalued as merely ‘women’s work.’Flanagan’s woven video tape delivers a pixelated reflection that displays not only the viewers of Flanagan’s artwork as participants in the questioning of technological advancements, but also the other works in the gallery transformed into pixelated pictures.

Working in video in a more conventional way, Steve Carr uses found video footage in two works, Watermelon, 2015 and Bubble Cactus. By slowing them both down, he creates a fascinating vision, one where we, the viewer, feel totally manipulated at having to wait thirty minutes for the inevitable to happen. The viewer is trapped by the tension, waiting for the watermelon to explode as the last rubber band is placed, or for the bubble to burst, listening to the swelling soundtrack and the final visual cosmic revelation, but it’s well worth the wait.

And then there’s Nina Oberg Humphries’ delightful take on identity and migration, using frames and photography to celebrate her dual heritage of Cook Island and Pakeha, adding to the wealth of original ideas that are on show and the breadth of culture that is represented.

There’s plenty more in this show. Take your time at each offering to absorb the ideas and admire their innovative delivery.

Detail: Nina Oberg Humphries, hand cast resin, found plastic flowers, and automotive paint. 

Jackie Watson is a retired English teacher and art lover.  She worked as a Potter in the 70s and 80’s, working in stoneware fired in a self-built diesel-fired kiln; she taught pottery for 25 years. Nowadays, Jackie paints occasionally but is heavily involved in the Kaiapoi Art Expo. She manages Art On The Quay in the Ruataniwha building in Kaiapoi, which has been built since the quakes, and houses the museum and library. They hold monthly exhibitions.

Jackie has been a member of both the Waimakariri Community Arts Council and the Arts Canterbury executive for more years than she cares to remember and this year has been studying International Contemporary Art at University of Canterbury, which led her to volunteer at CoCA.