Exhibition at Wintec showcases Barbara Tuck's painting career
Barbara Tuck was born in the Waikato in 1943. Her extensive career spans five decades of painting and this exhibition, Delirium Crossing, features work from across those decades.
Delirium Crossing, is open at Ramp Gallery, at Wintec, Kirikiriroa Hamilton, until Friday 17 June.
In this exhibition Tuck explores the ideas of geological time, the histories of human habitation, and the present environmental crisis.
“Named after Tuck’s painting, Delirium Crossing, the project, which includes a 90-page publication and touring exhibition, is a platform for thinking about painting now,” says Anna Miles of her eponymous gallery.
Miles has long represented Tuck and has orchestrated this project with Hollie Tawhiao (Ramp Gallery) alongside Christina Barton (Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery) and a troupe of writers and creatives.
The exhibition samples paintings made by the artist between 1999 and the present. This selection has been determined not by the artist nor a curator, but instead through a collaborative exchange with the publication’s writers.
The publication features fifteen new texts from a multi-generational group of leading Aotearoa art writers, curators, artists, and art historians. Writers Hanahiva Rose, Susan Ballard, Rebecca Rice, Sarah Treadwell, Nathan Pōhio, Simon Gennard, Christina Barton, Natasha Conland, Lachlan Taylor, Jan Bryant, Robyn Maree Pickens, Abby Cunnane, Richard Frater, Emma Smith; and Emma Fenton. They have all responded to this invitation by offering their unique perspectives on Tuck's extensive work.
“These essays deepen our appreciation of Tuck’s work, but also tell us something about how painting is understood in our times,” says Miles.
Ramp Gallery curator Hollie Tawhiao says that the exhibition has been an opportunity to connect with other curators and writers outside the Waikato region, “This exhibition had humble beginnings and has snowballed into a significant and unique show.”
“It’s an opportunity not only for Wintec School of Media Arts students to view, but for our entire Waikato arts community,” says Tawhiao.
This exhibition has been developed as a partnership between Anna Miles Gallery, Ramp Gallery, and Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery.
Ramp gallery is based at Wintec School of Media Arts, Collingwood Street, Kirikiriroa Hamilton. Gallery hours are Monday, Tuesday and Friday 10am - 2.30pm.
