Outcome of probability: Saskia Leek and Francis Upritchard
This is the first time Francis Upritchard and Saskia Leek have shown together, yet the two artists' works seem to instantly engage with each other and with the viewer in a kooky, three-way dialogue. Both artists have chosen everyday tropes which they imbue with weirdness: Leek's eggs and place-mats jostle with Upritchard's potatoes and tattoos.
It is difficult to avoid a discussion of regional style as both artists hail from Christchurch (though Leek is now practising in Auckland , and Upritchard in London). Christchurch is well-known for its school of pseudo-surrealists who share stylistic traits and common imagery (namely, flat fields filled with disparate objects, usually with some kind of post-colonial or nationalistic connotations). Famous proponents of this school include Bill Hammond, Tony de Lautour, Shane Cotton, and Seraphine Pick, all of whom were showcased in the exhibition Skywriters and Earthmovers at Christchurch's Robert McDougall Gallery in 1998. Saskia Leek is often almost rounded up into this category, but usually escapes due to her humour and insistent 'immaturity'. Leek is well known in New Zealand for her investigations into the way children see and communicate before they learn the conventions of perspective and grammar. Her paintings are like small stage-sets, retablo-like, but without the heavy emotional or religious content, and often doodled-on with ball-point pen as a final salute to juvenility. Leek's works are frequently funny, as her peculiar cast of characters (nurses, female wrestlers, moth-eaten monsters) act out inane initiation rites, or try to scare us, or simply share an odd moment.
In Outcome of Probability, Leek has moved on from documenting the hijinks of her fictional alter-egos, to creating indeterminate fields ripe for a surreal intrusion. Each painted