SABATO, EL QUINCE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Today is the last day of my exhibition, Malfunction Baroque at the Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui. Below is a recent article about the exhibition by Paul Brooks from the Wanganui Midweek. Click on the image to enlarge it.

VIERNES, EL CATORCE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
An ex-voto from 2007, painted while shifting out of Tylee Cottage at the end of my residency there. I was able to paint it as we still had our studio, although I had to shift all my resource books from the cottage to the studio - meaning up a couple of flights of stairs. The recent shift out of the studio hasn't been too bad as it's all going downstairs. The painting features my favourite shifting object - Bonita banana boxes.

JUEVES, EL TRECE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Like a full-scale game of Tetris, we filled up our storage unit yesterday. I'm very surprised how much stuff you can fit into a 3m x 2m space. We've always been hoarders, yet it's still good to know that we can store our life in such a small shed. We're finishing packing the odds and ends today.

MIERCOLES, EL DOCE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Today we start shifting out of our studio, so this is the end of this eon of my studio blog. I'll keep on posting as the world is my studio now and because I still have a few paintings to finish up before leaving New Zealand.
I moved into the Chronicle Newspaper Building studio in July, 2006 when Jo and I moved to Whanganui to take up the Tylee Cottage residency. Before I took on the lease, this particular studio was tenanted by Daniel Clifford (now an important designer at UAP in Brisbane) and Alaistair Gailbrath (Dunedin musician and artist and NZ laureate). The studio has seen some major changes in my work, some good, some not so good, but I'll have great memories of this space.

MARTES, EL ONCE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Saturday morning on Gladstone St, Gisborne. The occasion was the Tairawhiti Polytechnic graduates march. PAULNACHE has a terrific balcony centered in the middle of Gladstone St overlooking the clocktower.

LUNES, EL DIEZ DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ

Just got back to Whanganui. Here are some more photos of the musicians and bands that played at the opening. I didn't catch the name of the guys featured top-left, but top-right is Brian Campbell, renaissance man and below him, Naked Brunch (Jack and Tim). Thanks heaps to Jo and Phill for the photos.
You can see more image on the PAULNACHE website here.

DOMINGO, EL NUEVE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Photos from Friday night's opening: general shot of the installation, me cutting the National cake with Gene Paul looking on, Matt Nache handing out food and another opening shot.

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.

VIERNES, EL DIECISEIS DE ABRIL, VIENTE-DIEZ
Installation Photographs of recent exhibition at Mark Hutchins Gallery in Wellington.

MARTES, EL TRECE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
One of the eight new works that will be on display at Mark Hutchins Gallery from this Thursday to Sunday. The oil and collage on canvas painting is 1680mm high by 1280mm wide and is titled 'Half and Half'. It relates to a smaller painting that was worked on at the same time as this one below, but this one slipped through the net at the time - that was October 2008. It has since been three other paintings, a whole new painting painted on the back and now finally finished, ready to be stretched over a wooden frame for display.
You can view all the works in the exhibition here on my website.

LUNES, EL DOCE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Below, left is a painting by Salomon de Bray of Samson with the Jawbone (1636, oil on canvas, 622mm x 508mm).
I first saw this painting at the Getty Museum, terribly jet-lagged, in Los Angeles in 2004 and it grabbed my attention once more in 2008. First, I was interested in the facial structure, isometrically distorted, similar to Da Vinci's lost painting Madonna of the Yarnwinder (circa 1501). Second, the liquid coming out of the jawbone. Here's the reason for this symbolism (taken from the Getty Website):
Holding the jawbone as his attribute, Samson looks upward, perhaps to God. The great strongman slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (Judges 15:19). Overcome by thirst, he then drank from the rock at Lechi, a name that also means "jawbone" in Hebrew. Due to a mistaken translation in the Dutch Bible, some artists depicted Samson with a jawbone, rather than the rock, issuing water.
I've used this symbol in my painting on the right, called Measured Sadness, as this for me, reinforces the multiplicity of meanings in the symbolism of historical art and the signifiers I use in my paintings to re-interpret my historical interests, while still trying to push forward. Everything means something, yet it can still act like mercury - reforming itself constantly. I'm not so much interested in the posterity of my work, but from the other direction - time often changes meaning.

DOMINGO, EL ONCE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Hello All,

You are invited to attend the opening of 'Culturally Baroque' and 'Antiquarius', a new selection of my paintings exhibited next to classical antiquities from the Mediterranean dated 3000BC - 500AD.

The exhibition opens Thursday night, 5.30pm - 7.30pm, 15th of April, 2010 and will continue through to 5pm, Sunday 18th of April, 2010.

**Please note that this exhibition only runs for FOUR DAYS ONLY and this will be my last showing in Wellington while still living in NZ before my wife and I move to the USA in June**

I will be exhibiting selection of new retablo-sized oil paintings on metal, two larger colonial-style framed oils on metal and one large oil painting on canvas.

You will be able to view all the work in the exhibition at this link Tuesday the 13th of April and any enquiries can be directed to Mark Hutchins Gallery at mark@mhgallery.co.nz, 216a Upper Willis Street, Wellington.

SABATO, EL DIEZ DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Photos from the opening of the Creative Hawke's Bay Invitational by J.K. Russ.
Clockwise from top, left: braziers outside the Hastings City Art Gallery; my work, Reloj De La Recesion (poliptico) on the plinth with Helen Kerridge's Not A Bad Drop on the wall; another view of Reloj De La Recesion and Rectangulo De Tiempos Del Final on the wall; another view with Martin Selman's marble Self-Portrait, Reworked and Revisited. You can view images of my paintings here.

VIERNES, EL NUEVE DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Tonight is the opening of the Creative Hawke's Bay Invitational. Two works of mine from 2009 were selected to be displayed.

JUEVES, EL OCHO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
A Lego policeman made by my nephew Tom, with a little bit of help from me. The policeman sports an open mouth, moustache and rifle.

MARTES, EL SEIS DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
A photo of Benedict Quilter by J.K. Russ at the opening and book-launch of Blue-Eyed Son at Manky Chops, Cuba Street, Wellington. The book Blue-Eyed Son, a limited edition, hardback, full-colour, 44-paged book is available to purchase from Manky Chops at $100 each.

DOMINGO, EL CUATRO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
6pm this Monday, Blue-Eyed Son, a book launch and exhibition of featured artworks of Kurt Cobain, is opening at Manky Chops in Wellington.
Monday is the 16th anniversary of Cobain's Death.
The limited-edition, hardback book features writing by its author and editor, Benedict Quilter and artworks by forty artists responding to Kurt Cobain. I've included my image on the right - a pencil drawing of a short-haired Cobain, sporting a Daniel Johnston 'Hi, How Are You? The Unfinished Album' Tee-shirt. In the original photograph, Cobain is standing with Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
More details about the booklaunch are on the base of the poster on the left - just click on the image below.

SABATO, EL TRES DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Studio photograph taken today. The work on the walls will be exhibited at Mark Hutchins Gallery in mid-April.

VIERNES, EL DOS DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
Happy Easter

JUEVES, EL UNO DE ABRIL, VEINTE-DIEZ
FELIZ SANTA SEMANA!
A sera una vista asombrosa para ver Nazarenos el recorrer abajo de la calle principal de Whanganui?...aunque, no piense Michael Laws lo quisiera.

MARTES, EL TREINTA DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ

Hello All,

You are invited to 'Malfunction Baroque', a new selection of ceramics and paintings.

The exhibition opens this Thursday night, 5.30pm, 1st of April, 2010 and will continue through to the 15th of May.

Fifteen new functional ceramic works, four glazed plates and three new monochromatic retablo paintings on metal will be exhibited.

You will be able to view the work in the exhibition on my website from this Thursday. Any enquiries can be directed to Paul or Mark Rayner at Rayner Brothers Gallery, 52 Guyton Street, Whanganui.

Hasta pronto

Matthew Couper

LUNES, EL VEINTINUEVE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
This Thursday, my exhibition, Malfunction Baroque opens at the Rayner Brothers Gallery, Whanganui.
Here's one of the functional works, a salt and pepper set called Sailor's Pride Devotional Condiment Set.
I'll post details about the show tomorrow.

SABATO, EL VEINTISIETE DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Back in the studio, demonstrating aspects of my new ceramics to Daniel and Thea from Brisbane.

VIERNES, EL VEINTISEIS DE MARZO, VEINTE-DIEZ
Last night was the opening of a three-person exhibition at Paper-works in Napier. Here is an installation shot and a photo of Winnie, Annabel Sinclair-Thomson's dog, sitting under one of my works at the opening.