Art Inspired by Dark Opera‘
Bluebeard ’s Castle’
5 August 2003
An exhibition by Nigel Buxton
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu
8 August – 19 October, 2003
Inspired by the dark and sumptuous opera of the same name, ‘Bluebeard’s
Castle’ is an ethereal and dramatic new exhibition by Christchurch
artist Nigel Buxton scheduled to open in early August at the Christchurch
Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu.
Bartok’s opera was conceived in very visual terms. Colour, light
and shadow define the drama. Buxton’s painted scores – in lush,
viscous oils – use the music itself as subject, and colour and darkness
provide a dramatic aspect to the works.
Composed in 1911, and first
performed in 1918, Bluebeard's Castle was Bela Bartok's only operatic
masterpiece, a musical retelling of Charles Perrault’s
macabre 17th century fairytale. In the operatic version as realised by Bartok
and Hungarian poet Bela Balazs, Duke Bluebeard has brought his new wife
Judith to his gloomy windowless castle where she finds seven great locked
doors. The castle represents Bluebeard’s soul, and the seven doors
each represent an aspect of his character, his past and his inner
life. Wanting to know everything about her new husband in order
to love him completely,
Judith demands access to the locked doors. Bluebeard reluctantly
gives her the keys and, chamber by chamber, his grim secrets are
laid open. Judith
learns more than she can bear.
Buxton’s paintings invite the viewer to see what Judith sees through
the Opera’s seven doors. He says, “My interpretation is through
her eyes, it’s her response that we’re responding to. The colours
are very close to those stipulated throughout the stage instructions
[of the opera] and emulate the emotions I want to impart to the viewer.”
A
catalogue of the exhibition is available from the Gallery Shop
for $4.50.
About the Artist
Trained at the Camberwell and Byam Shaw Schools of Art
in London, Buxton has been practicing art in New Zealand for 20
years. Director of the CSA Gallery (now the Centre of Contemporary Art)
from 1993
to 1997, Buxton was awarded first prize in the Cranleigh Barton
Drawing
Award in
1995. He was a finalist in the Wallace Art Award in the same year.
Buxton’s
interest in music is a recurring motif in his art. Previously he
has used the musical scores of operas as the starting point for imaginative
works
which deal with the composer ’s dramatic themes.
About the Gallery
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu opened on
Saturday, 10 May 2003. Replacing the Robert McDougall Art Gallery,
the Gallery is the largest art institution in the South Island and
houses one of New
Zealand’s foremost public art collections with over 5,500 items,
including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, textiles,
glass, metalwork and photography.
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