KEY POINTS:
Fashion Week was surprising in the number of garments showing the influence of 20th-century abstract painting. A top by Huffer was a direct take on the work of Mondrian, the extreme abstractionist of the 1920s.
Abstract art, which began in the first decade of last century, remains a potent means of expression. There are two categories, hard-edged and expressionist, and three exhibitions of abstract art in Auckland show both in action.
The biggest show, at the Gus Fisher Gallery until October, is by one of the most resolute and gifted abstractionists of our art scene, Geoff Thornley, although it represents only a section of the constructions he did between 1978 and 1982.
The paintings are extraordinarily fresh and bright, perhaps because the artist retained many of them as touchstones in his development. They are called "constructions" because they are made up of solid panels of plain colour whose shapes overlap and interact to give each piece vigour and tension.
The work has a masterly simplicity. One of the earliest pieces, Construction #18, done in 1978, is a plain field of green mounted just clear of the wall.
Beginning with sides at 90 degrees, it thrusts itself forward into an asymmetrical shape. The left pushes the right side of the work into an arrow and - at exactly the right spot, decided emotionally rather than by any rule - the work is pierced by a circular hole.
The result has great wit and charm, establishing the subtle imbalance of tilt and taper that shifts these constructions from design into poised, tense works of art.
Abstract design is everywhere about us - in modern buildings, furniture, even toilet fittings. These are attractively decorative but usually balanced and symmetrical. Thornley's constructions are given extra life by variations which, although unexpected, nevertheless seem right. Then there is the question of colour. Here it is clean, pure and bright. At times it is subtle as in Construction #5, where one of the overlapping panels has a red edge to its thickness that sheds a delicate glow on the panel beneath, all keyed to the dominant sky blue.
The mighty painting Construction #6 is a field of ochre weighted by a strip of red along the top with hints of red buried deep in the incisions that cross the painting.
Thornley began as a figurative painter and progressed to these abstract constructions. He dissolved his hard-edged work into subtle fields of delicate paint where layer after layer, stiffened by a grid, appear to loom from deep within the surface.
The carefully focused exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery has a complement at the Vavasour Godkin Gallery with some constructions dating back to the 1980s alongside works done this year in Thornley's soft allusive manner where colour emerges through a haze of cool white in complete contrast to the constructions.
Together these shows recognise the subtle work of one of our most important abstract artists who is much admired by other painters and whose work is in all the public collections. Yet Thornley is hardly a household name although, throughout his long career, he has shown complete control over his work.
A younger generation of abstraction is exemplified in the work of Reuben Paterson at the Gow Langsford Gallery until October 13. Paterson has also trodden a path of development that led from figuration to palm trees and island scenes, through fabric patterns, and on to the veils of colour that feature in this exhibition called Reverie.
A consistent feature is Paterson's use of glitter. In the past this brash element has been an ironic gesture but these works are a much more convincing achievement. The ones with glitter on a dark background have big falls of colour which suggest an emotional wandering in the dark with moments of revelation. There are big clumps of glittering colour like nebulae and the dark background is a surface energised by tiny specks of glitter that catch the light.
The system works well in big paintings such as Loss of Self by Eruption. Movement and the feeling of being swept away is emphasised by polyurethane resin on the surface which thickens into a subtle wave. Similarly effective is What is the Source of Our First Suffering?
Most striking of all is Prometheus, the demi-god who brought fire from heaven to aid humans.
This is a spectacular fall of colour streaking down a tall panel to end in a cataclysmic dark abyss.
The more experimental half of the exhibition has scattered bling, confetti, streamers and coloured silly string on coloured backgrounds.
Paintings are sprayed with party poppers and the ephemeral squirts are allowed to spill over the floor in a gesture that makes nonsense of any serious intent.
Thick resin is also a feature of Leigh Martin's exhibition, called Loaded, at the Jensen Gallery until October 6. These confident paintings use a haze behind the resin. It works well on big paintings such as the one where an inexorable tide of green washes across the whole space of the canvas, exerting pressure on a sandy yellow on one side.
On another, a void of pink is surrounded by a spectacular contrasting raw red that flows vigorously and spontaneously. The soft colours of the small paintings are appealing but the big ones are wondrous.
