Yes, there is—it’s just a matter of having the patience to sift through the nonsense. I’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few years, but there’s a lot of recent work that I find really compelling. Angela Dufresne’s figures are a revelation that I’ve been working through for years, they often have a political edge but are as searching as any painting being made today. I loved seeing James Little’s work at the 2024 Biennial, and Suzan Frecon’s paintings in some iterations before that.
I didn’t intend to stop there but I suppose there’s not a lot of value in long lists…there is really compelling stuff being made right now, a lot to wrestle with and challenge yourself to see more deeply through looking at it. There’s stuff that makes an easy point or cashes in on the latest trend, of course, but there are honest, genuine seekers out there pushing the grounds of what’s possible in painting as well as in other media.
Here’s a short list of contemporary New Zealand artists making work from motives more psychospiritual than politically ideological, and engaging with traditional methods, ideas and aesthetics in a contemporary context without cutting corners or making excuses. Hayley Theyers, Elizabeth Maw, Andrew McCleod, Sophie Greig, Lily Greig.
Is there really any good contemporary art coming from anywhere, left or right, though?
Yes, there is—it’s just a matter of having the patience to sift through the nonsense. I’ve been hiding under a rock for the last few years, but there’s a lot of recent work that I find really compelling. Angela Dufresne’s figures are a revelation that I’ve been working through for years, they often have a political edge but are as searching as any painting being made today. I loved seeing James Little’s work at the 2024 Biennial, and Suzan Frecon’s paintings in some iterations before that.
I didn’t intend to stop there but I suppose there’s not a lot of value in long lists…there is really compelling stuff being made right now, a lot to wrestle with and challenge yourself to see more deeply through looking at it. There’s stuff that makes an easy point or cashes in on the latest trend, of course, but there are honest, genuine seekers out there pushing the grounds of what’s possible in painting as well as in other media.
Here’s a short list of contemporary New Zealand artists making work from motives more psychospiritual than politically ideological, and engaging with traditional methods, ideas and aesthetics in a contemporary context without cutting corners or making excuses. Hayley Theyers, Elizabeth Maw, Andrew McCleod, Sophie Greig, Lily Greig.