Go directly to stall No18 at Auckland Art Fair this weekend and feast your eyes on this magnificent detailed painting by Andy Leleisi'uao. Episode of Pino'nati, at Whitespace Contemporary Art's booth on Level One at The Cloud, is indicative of the very high standard of works, with 38 galleries participating from Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, Gisborne, Nelson, Whanganui, Arrowtown, Sydney and Melbourne. This is a chance to see works by artists who may be entirely new to Auckland viewers, and all of the art is for sale, much of it at surprisingly affordable prices.
Auckland galleries are represented by Warwick Henderson, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Melanie Roger, Gloria Knight, Anna Miles, Masterworks, Artis, Two Rooms, FHE, Tim Melville, Gow Langsford, Fox Jensen, Starkwhite, Orexart, Hopkinson Mossman and Michael Lett.
The fair also includes six projects by Alex Monteith, Rohan Wealleans, Scott Eady, Seung Yul Oh, Niki Hastings-McFall and a special treat - Hides, a 2009 work by this year's New Zealand Venice Biennale artist, Bill Culbert.
Level Two hosts lectures and forums, the first today at 10am with gallerist Paul McNamara of Whanganui's McNamara Gallery Photography discussing the exhibition Available Light: Imagining More Than We See. Artist Nandita Kumar gives a talk at the Whitespace stand at 1pm, while Geoff Dixon is at Bowen Galleries (stand 12) at 2pm. Also at 2pm, Sue Gardiner, of the Chartwell Collection, hosts a panel session on collecting and curating new media. Tomorrow, explore Circuit Cast, a monthly arts review podcast (11am), and the future of galleries (2pm). The fair is open both days from 10am-6pm; see artfair.co.nz.
