Thinking through New Zealand art
During the symposium accompanying the opening of HEADLANDS Daniel Thomas made the observation that when a nation matures and gains confidence then humour and wilfulness have a chance to come into play. For him, the high seriousness and moral earnestness which have informed evaluations of New Zealand art in the past now seem to have been leavened by a welcome measure of whimsy and largess. This observation is not only evidenced in the way this comprehensive exhibition has been curated – the premises upon which it has been conceived – but it also applies to the actual selection of over one hundred exhibits and their juxtaposition with each other.
Bernice Murphy and Robert Leonard are the principal curators of this major survey which covers three decades of art practice. From separate sides of the Tasman, they have focused their dialogue on a country which has so often been compared with Australia, one which shares a similar history of colonisation, has close geographical proximity, but which is so distinctively different. Assisted by advisers, both Maori and non-Maori, the curators have deconstructed and intellectually probed time-honoured cultural myths associated with the development of modernism in New Zealand. They have exposed friction and unease in what used to be considered a classless utopian society and acknowledged the embodiment of inevitable contradictions in the imagery produced from Australia's near neighbour. Although there is no longer the xenophobic search for national identity, perceptions from the past have been identified and necessarily reviewed. Two are extremely obvious to outside observers; firstly, the all-pervading landscape metaphor for regional identity (conveyed by Colin McCahon and Rita Angus), and secondly, the weight of Christianity on the creative imagination (again