The extraordinary Jeffrey Harris
Strange, beautiful, intense — an exhibition now on at Christchurch Art Gallery is the first chance Christchurch audiences have had to experience in depth the painted works of Jeffrey Harris.
Born in Akaroa in 1949, Harris is a self-taught artist who has painted full-time since 1970. He went from Christchurch to Dunedin in 1969, encouraged by Michael Smither and Ralph Hotere, and was Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of Otago in 1977. He is well known in New Zealand for his intensely detailed and seemingly angst-ridden works of the 1970s and first half of the 1980s. A prominent figure in New Zealand art of that time, Harris moved to Australia in the late 1980s and spent a decade there, working through an uncompromising series of black-and-white abstract paintings. He returned to Dunedin in 2000 and in the works since then, figures have returned with a vengeance.
"Lost loves, charged encounters and moments of high emotion are among the best-known subjects of this Dunedin-based painter," says exhibition curator Justin Paton. What unites all of the works is Harris' faith in painting as, in his words, "a condensation of experience and intensity".
This exhibition runs until 25 June. On Wednesday 5 April at 6pm Mr Paton will present a floor talk entitled Harris at the Threshold.
- Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu is on Worcester Boulevard. Admission is free. It is open daily 10am-5pm, with a late night until 9pm on Wednesdays. More information about it and the exhibitions is on the web at http://www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz/. There is a public carpark benepath the gallery, with the entry off Gloucester St.
Head with Cross (Self-portrait 1998-2003), by Jeffrey Harris. Oil on board. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
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