Art Expedition - 20 October

On Thursday evening from 5pm to 7pm David led a score of art buffs and one old buffer            (behind the camera) on a pilgrimage from one Auckland city gallery to another. Curiously the helmeted building in the background is Prabhash's college.

Jan Sanders welcomed us to her gallery on the first floor of a noble 1870s building and in keeping with the building a show by a revered Auckland artist - 91 year old Jan Nigro. Her subject matter the equally aged Lady Chatterley's Lover was daringly presented with fresh and youthful vigour.

Anna Miles Gallery stunningly lit gallery in a curiously narrow building displayed architectural photos by Allan McDonald " Six Petrol Stations". Spotlit Anna in the far corner spoke simply and with passion.

Our next stop was the black and white show "Driven to Abstraction" at Gow Langsford Gallery in Lorne Street. The stark brightly lit space was a perfect canvas for the stark monochrome works. The Simon Ingrams on the back wall were rendered by an art machine he devised for the occasion.

The smallest and subtlest of the show at the Langsford Gallery was this Colin McCahon drastically entitled "Jump".

Making our way from one gallery to the next we paused in Khartoum Place with its feminist tile murals, to listen to the melodies of a solitary harpist.

The entrance to our next gallery Orexart is suspended precariously over Khartoum Place.

Rex Armstrong positively glowed among the stencil art rugby stars at Orexart Gallery. The show "Personal Heroes" is by New Zealand born artist Regan Tamanui, best known in his adopted city of Melbourne by his aka Ha Ha.

Refining his stencil and spray technique developed for guerrilla street art, Regan treats this personal hero with subtle affection.

The final stop before entering the Auckland art Gallery for a festive late night programme that was to include Pecha Kucha, was the clean cut beautiful FHE Gallery. Its slightly rarefied atmosphere displayed art pieces by a revered stable of artists.  Gallery director Kathlene Fogarty spoke about each piece and the artists with real devotion and her presence led me to coin a new term for her urbane poise - artistocratic. 

The tour ended at the doors of the impressive extension to the Auckland Art Gallery and alerted by Frank McBride to the existence of an art installation that can best be described as a deification machine, I hurried into the mysterious room to enjoy a moment of reflection and a glimpse of the perpetually eternal.