SABATO, EL OCHO DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Last night, Matt Nache and Gene Paul of PAULNACHE in Gisborne surprised me with a farewell exhibition. Below is a stitched-together photograph of the main wall. It was a total surprise to me and somewhat daunting walking into an exhibtion featuring twelve years of artworks! It was great to see all the Gizzy folk and a big thank you to all that made the effort to drive and or fly over to the opening event.
I'll be posting more images over the next couple of days and will also be updating my website contents page in due course.

VIERNES, EL SIETE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
I painted the work on the left in 1996 while on holiday in Hawkes Bay. There's obviously some link to my more recent work, My Ambassadors (right, 2008, oil on linen) as they both reference Hans Holbein's paintings. The earlier work on the right shows the skull on a table, unanamorphosised (if that is a word), yet I removed the skull in the later painting and replaced it with an anamorphic Huey Newton. I think I used the image of Newton as we were heading over to the USA just after this painting was exhibited and I'd been reading Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver.

JUEVES, EL SEIS DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Heading over to the East Coast today for some R & R, will post but they'll be delayed.

(below) Cultural Transferal, 2000, oil on panel, private collection, Wellington

MIERCOLES, EL CINCO DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
After having posted this entry recently, I was looking at the photo on the left of Jim Caswell and his son Alberto in their store Historia Antiques in Santa Monica. I noticed the framed retablo of Saint Camilio hanging on the wall.

MARTES, EL CUATRO DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
This is the interior boardroom of the New Zealand Embassy in Rome (the photos were cleared by an official) showing my painting 'Santum Hill' on display. The photos were taken in 2008.

LUNES, EL TRES DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
'Sanctum Hill', 2004, oil on linen, 800mm x 1000mm, collection of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rome.
This is the painting mentioned in yesterday's post. It's a real pastiche of Renaissance symbolism and composition. The three virtues on the right, flying away (copied from a painting by Sassetta) have Guston-like heads. Along with the Ghirlandaio wall and the Giotto township and of course, Cima's Agnus Dei.
The title, I'm not sure where that came from, but I remember specifically, as I was walking to the opening of my exhibition at Janne Land's, that the apartments opposite her gallery (in Jessie Street at the time) were called the Sanctum Apartments.

DOMINGO, EL DOS DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
A scrimshaw piece that was commissioned in 2006. The client lived in the USA and was a Mellon fellow, hence the portrait of Andrew Mellon on the left-hand image. The image on the right depicts a map of the USA with an Agnus Dei from a Cima painting. I used this symbol in a painting called 'Sanctum Hill', painted in 2004, but not exhibited until 2005.

Hello All,

My work that was shown recently at Mark Hutchins Gallery in Wellington has segued into 'Contemporary Baroque' and will continue until the 8th of May, so if you didn't get to see the work in the previous four days, you will have a chance to catch it in a new exhibition format.
Mark Hutchins Gallery, 216A Upper Willis Street, Wellington

Also, I have work in several other exhibitions around New Zealand; finishing up on the 24th of April is '13 Works' at Paper-Works, Upstairs, 27 Tennyson Street, Napier, Hawkes Bay
www.paper-works.co.nz

A painting and three crucifixes in 'Represent' at PAULNACHE in Gisborne, finishing on the 1st of May,
PAULNACHE, Upstairs, 89 Grey Street, Gisborne 4010

'Malfunction Baroque', a group of new ceramics at the Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui, finishing on the 15th of May,
Rayner Brothers Gallery, 52 Guyton Street, Whanganui

And, finally, two works in the Creative Hawkes Bay Invitational 2010,
Hastings City Art Gallery, 201 Eastbourne Street East, Hastings

If you click on the links above, you can check out my work in each of the exhibitions.
Hasta pronto
Matthew Couper

JUEVES, EL VEINTINUEVE DE ABRIL
Self-portrait as a duck.

MIERCOLES, EL VEINTIOCHO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Photos taken at Upokongaro. My sister and brother-in-law came over to visit, so we decided to travel up the Whanganui river on the Waimarie paddle steamer. It's a three-hour round trip with and hour to look around the small settlement on State Highway four. The image on the right is of St. Mary's church with its distinctive three-sided tin spire.

MARTES, EL VEINTISIETE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
A worn sign and bill board on Taupo Quay that I look at every day while walking to work.

LUNES, EL VEINTISEIS DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
At present, we're packing up the studio, so there's not much to see. Our house is looking bare too as I've crated up the larger works to make sure they're going to fit into the storage unit. Here's a photo of two works we haven't had on display in the house for a long time - a revisionist plate by Tony de Lautour and a carved head with moko. They have replaced two framed works, a drawing by Jeffrey Harris and a photograph by Andrew Ross.

DOMINGO, EL VEINTICINCO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ

A cellphone-camera photograph of a ceramic collaboration between Mark Rayner and me. I made the piece (it relates to several mortality paintings I've done) and Mark glazed it. This piece was never shown, as it was completed after our show, Group Hug in 2009.

SABATO, EL VEINTICUATRO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Birthday card for R.M.A.

VIERNES, EL VEINTITRES DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ

"...Sometimes, when our Prebendary was tired of painting, he would ask the student
who assisted him for the chisels, the mallet, and other tools to work on some sculpture,
saying that he wanted to rest a while. The youth would laugh at this
and tell him, "that's a fine way to rest, master, putting down a little brush
and picking up a mallet!" To which the Prebendary would respond,
"You are a big fool! Don't you know that it is more work to give form and
volume to that which has neither that to give form
to that which has volume?"..."

FROM PALOMINO'S
LIFE OF ALFONSO CANO

JUEVES, EL VEINTIDOS DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DEIZ
Below is part of an article written by Roy Dunningham about the Creative Hawke's Bay Invitational in The BayBuzz. He has some kind words to say about my work in the exhibition. To read the full article, click here.

Creative Hawke’s Bay Invitational, Hastings City Art Gallery – April 10-June 27 2010

It has taken awhile, but Creative Hawke’s Bay has got the formula right for this year’s Invitationals exhibition.

The old Hawke’s Bay Review had been in decline and was replaced by the Invitationals which revived standards and artist participation. A stand-down policy provided opportunities for fresh talent to emerge. It worked well but one problem remained. Last year one or two artists were less than rigorous in monitoring the qualities of the work they submitted. To address this a selector has been engaged this year in the person of curator Tim Walker.

Selecting in art can be problematic but, done well, it gives an exhibition form and a point of view. In the past this had been highlighted by the fascinating “Salon des Refusés” of work rejected from the old Hawke’s Bay Reviews held at Wine Country Gallery in Havelock North. Certainly, the resulting Invitationals show this year is one of the most consistent in quality that I can recall...

...The most original work in the exhibition is from Matt Couper. He employs quasi-mystical texts and symbols taken from a range of religious and philosophical orders over the ages. The symbols were of doubtful effectiveness in their original context, but they can tell us a lot about the way the human mind deals with hopes and fears and tries to explain the inexplicable. The presentation of these ideas is wonderfully pungent, painterly and idiosyncratic....

...There are too many good things in this show to cover in this review. Go and see it for yourself.

Selector Tim Walker has given us an exhibition that truly looks at Hawke’s Bay in its many aspects. This is not the “colourful at all costs” Hawke’s Bay of tourist promotions but is darker and deeper. And a lot more interesting.

MIERCOLES, EL VEINTIUNO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
The photo on the left was taken on the 22nd of April, 2007, several months before I had my Tylee Cottage residency show at the Sarjeant Gallery. The stitched-together photo on the right was taken yesterday, almost three years later. I thought this might be of interest as we will be moving out of this studio soon.

MARTES, EL VEINTE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
A newspaper article by Laurel Stowell of the Whanganui Chronicle. It was in last Wednesday's paper, but I only got to see it yesterday, since I've been down in Wellington.
If you click on the image below, it will enlarge so you can read the text.

LUNES, EL DIECINUEVE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
I've had a few enquiries and comments on the frames I choose for my works. The frames I use are in keeping with the Spanish/Mexican Colonial period and I hand-make them myself. This is so the frame is on the same level as the work. In keeping with tradition, I want the object to be a whole thing, not just a painting with a box around it I paint the painting myself, so I make the frame myself.
It was a while before I saw antique hand-made frames from this period, so I've done a bit of research in looking at the difference in design from different periods and locations. With retablo painting, the work was often framed by a nicho - a decorative flat-sided frame made of thin tin with pressed and punched-in designs. I prefer wooden frames as they provide strength to the painting on metal. I source the frame designs from different places. My painting on the top right, presently on exhibition at Paper-Works in Napier, is based on a carved wooden example that frames a stunning 19th Century Crucifixion owned by a friend up in Auckland. The other painting, bottom-right, presently on display at Mark Hutchins Gallery in Wellington, is based on a simple wooden construction framing a San Camilo de Lelis retablo, bottom-left, courtesy of Historia Antiques in Santa Monica, USA.

DOMINGO, EL DIECIOCHO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ

Installation Photographs of my recent exhibition at Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui.