KEY POINTS:
Ambiguity, the feeling that several layers of meaning are possible, can be a fertile feature of art. The works by Jacqueline Fraser called Topless (The Hustler & Superstars) at Michael Lett in K Rd are a case in point.
They are based on the hectic brilliance of the world of high fashion and fashion photography. They rejoice in a world of striking models, high-fashion labels, glitter and glitz, eroticism and tawdriness, materials and bling.
They are also blatant and edgy. The celebration of the world of high fashion is shot through with irony, satire and the suggestion that this high-fashion world is vivid but shallow and facile.
Suggestion would be trite if it were not for the size and presence of these works, the force of their concept, the inventiveness of the use of collaged fabrics, wigs and labels, the liveliness of their details and their sheer extravagant wit.
A typical work is That Cutesy Little Owls Caps her Olafur Eliasson Prototype for Bvlgari. Against a background of stitched purple fabric, a silicon-enhanced model in a photograph wears a top that is no more than a couple of straps adorned with a heavy necklace with Christian Dior badges. Her skirt is a cloud of black and the blond wig that hides her eyes is covered with a mass of white tulle. Alongside is a sticky-beaking parrot.
The fashion references are obvious but the cloud around her head refers to the work with light and clouds done by the Scandinavian artist, Olafur Eliasson, famous for his work at the Tate Modern. The image is filled with a curious stylish energy and, among other things, may reflect how closely fashion takes ideas from art. The London gallery gets another mention in a work that uses the same photograph, this time with starched cuffs and flocks of the doves of Venus.
The use of a photograph as a basis grounds these works in reality but they expand to an opulent fantasy, nowhere more so than in If She Needs an Urgent Sale She Just Dumps her Jimmy Choos and Collaborates where, against waves of glitter and accompanied by her toy dog, a model disports herself with a Chanel label on her stomach and her trophy shoes beside her.
These are large works and their size matters but Fraser works equally well on a smaller scale as in the beautifully toned and mysterious Italia. Only the title work, which has a string of figures and settings, is more confused than the rest.
Also making a foray here is the Los Angeles artist Kevin Appel whose work is at Two Rooms in Newton, where he has been artist in residence. His work in mixed media is an attractive example of cool, modern academic abstraction.
The work is Cubist in origin. It is made up of angular areas, some of them painted and others collaged. Like classical Cubist work, a collection of visual incidents are arranged rhythmically with each part leading the eye to the next. These are not works to be taken in at a glance but give pleasure when each facet of the construction is weighed alongside its neighbours.
Where Appel veers away from classical Cubism is his use of perspective. The forms do not just work across the surface, they also work in depth, particularly a precisely drawn pyramid shape that recurs in a number of works and hints at a roof. This stresses artificial constructs. It is not a representation but an exploration, even when the subject is obviously blossom on a stem.
The artist has considerable skill in conveying the surfaces of building materials so each element has a tactile effect that attracts careful exploration. There is also a place for softer background forms that suggest the foliage around the structures.
Sometimes there is a sudden melodramatic splash of raw paint like the patches of red in Bleeding Heart but otherwise this is a very calm, bland exhibition.
Upstairs at Two Rooms an exhibition by Julia Morison is called Myriorama after the game where cards link up to make a landscape but can be placed in any order. Her abstract forms can be similarly linked but within the formal lines of her modules are tiny cloudy landscapes.
The element of fun is a rare commodity in art but it permeates all of the lively exhibition of bronze sculpture by Jonathan Campbell called Dead Collectors at Oedipus Rex.
The artist has impressive skill in casting. His bronzes capture with great exactitude not just the shape but the texture and detail of such things as leather-bound books, suitcases and electric jugs with their cords and switches. His cast objects are mounted on scaffolding, with each structure the bones of a small world. Pecking among the bones are whole swarms of vultures, not scary but inquisitive, investigative, a little grotesque, yet bright-eyed and lively.
His stylised vulture shape allows a multitude of variants on the bare neck and head, growing out of a fat body with wings with a lovely patina. These vultures sometimes lay bright brass eggs, sometimes put themselves in peril by tugging on cords attached to precariously poised electric jugs and sometimes they simply guard their treasure.
This is inventive and humorous sculpture, an artist's comment on collectors, auction houses, dealers, critics and the whole substructure of art. If the artist is biting the hand that feeds him, it is a stimulating nip.
For gallery listings www.nzherald.co.nz/arts
THIS WEEK AT THE GALLERIES
What: Topless (The Hustler & Superstars), by Jacqueline Fraser.
Where and when: Michael Lett, 478 K Rd, to Aug 9.
TJ says: Expatriate NZ artist satirically turns high fashion in on itself.
What: Recent Painting, by Kevin Appel; Myriorama, by Julia Morison.
Where and when: Two Rooms, 16 Putiki St, to Aug 9.
TJ says: Clear, precise Cubism from Two Rooms' Artist in Residence and ingenious modular work from the always-inventive Morison.
What: Dead Collectors, by Jonathan Campbell.
Where and when: Oedipus Rex, Upper Khartoum Pl, to Aug 9.
TJ says: Delightful bronze sculpture with a hint of art-world politics.
