T.J. McNamara: Evocative works tempt you to touch

Marion Fountain's Pea Pod and a detail from one of Jin Jianbo's photographs conveying the frenetic change of pace that's occurring in China. Photos / Paul Estcourt

Good sculpture, especially on a small scale, often evokes the desire to touch its polished or textured surfaces; "tactile values" are considered an important part of sculpture's power. The sense of touch is part of our identification, even our enjoyment of the shapes. The work of Marian Fountain at Artis Gallery, mostly in traditional bronze, provokes the desire to touch and it's also often about touching. Hands are everywhere. The natural things which stimulate touching are often contrasted with those modern things that we need to touch to make them work for us; hence the title of the show Remote Control.

One typical work is Ancestral Remote which is the elegant shape of a remote control with buttons which evolve from a seed to a human form. The contrast between natural and manufactured objects is captured in Digital Maze where the remote control is held in long slender fingers. As it curves upwards it evolves into a finely studied head of maize. When you walk around it, it is tense and lively from every angle.

A delightful tall work that evokes touch and a strong sense of physical intimacy is called Stem. It is a full spine solidly based on a pelvis bones. Up and down the elegant curve of this bony backbone are hands delicately playing as on a musical instrument.

The artist, who lives in Paris, works mostly on a fairly small scale as befits an artist who began as a medallist. Some of the work links back to her origins: oval medal-sized bronzes that show pairs of hands reaching to touch a treasured object in the centre of their table, a little like miniature Last Suppers.

Repeated hands are a frequent element. Three small works called Hug show two figures in an embrace, wrapped in a whole pattern of forearms and hands. They are the remote descendents of Brancusi's Kiss, the point where all modern sculpture started, still to be seen in Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.

Not all the work is about relationships. Some pieces are about evolution and history. There are several tall works, some with a splendid green patina, based on pea pods. One such pea pod called Stem Cells shows evolving embryos but most delightful of all is the tall work simply called Pea Pod. Its seven peas with all the potential of growth are matched by tiny, splendidly modelled hands, which gesture toward them. The work is matched by another work in bronze called Shoot which leaps up in a curve full of energy with delicate textures on the bud.

This is a show with 50 works whose variations are a tribute to the inexhaustible invention of the artist. It has been a while since Fountain has had an exhibition in New Zealand and it is a privilege to see such a comprehensive show.

We are surrounded by vivid images of colour photography yet in many circumstances black and white photography or the conscious use of subdued colour can be very powerful, particularly when the work has aspects of documentary.

At FHE Gallery The Moko Suite, the work of the celebrated photographer Marti Friedlander, is seen in its entirety for the first time before it goes to Te Papa Tongarewa as the gift of the photographer. The work dates back to 1970 when Michael King and Friedlander travelled throughout the country interviewing some 71 women with traditional moko.

The quality lies in the way the extraordinary countenances of these elderly women are allowed to speak for themselves without rhetoric or contrivance. They have all been taken in available light but care has been taken to see that the daylight illuminates the depth of these faces. In some the work has been done with the chisel rather than needles and are a cicatrice more than a tattoo. The prevailing characteristic is the sense of pride with which the women wear their moko but there is a not an overriding sense of joy. Some look happy, some seem deeply brooding on times past.

The straightforward documentary approach allows deep shadows and the table of wrinkles that life has imposed on these faces to be revealed in every nuance. Even details which others have made picturesque like the practice of pipe smoking is recorded as a natural part of the introspection of old age. It is an unmissable exhibition.

Another fine exhibition is the work of Jin Jiangbo at Starkwhite Gallery. Jiangbo is one of China's most distinguished photographers who commands modern techniques with virtuoso ease. This masterly series of photographs is six long panoramic photographs and two exceptionally tall images showing the transformation of Shanghai.

The photographs are all in shades of grey, which suits the piles of rubble and the twisted tangles of steel reinforcing where many substantial buildings have been knocked down to make room for new ones.

The long panoramas shade off to darkness at the edges but the depth of field is amazing. A motor scooter in the foreground is as sharp as buildings in the remote distance. The prevailing grey suggests that all this activity has drawn the colour out of Shanghai. The only note of colour is the red of the Chinese flag and even that looks a little dusty in the circumstances. What is conveyed is a sense of transformation and that the colour will return.

This exhibition gives great insight into the nature of the transformation of modern China.

The immense pace of change is apparent but there is a little nod to the past in the preservation of churches and an old signal station in the middle of a motorway.

AT THE GALLERIES

What: Remote Control, by Marion Fountain
Where and when: Artis, 280 Parnell Rd, to March 6
TJ says: Expatriate sculptor Fountain has brought from Paris a wide range of her small sculptures mostly in bronze that show her extraordinary inventiveness.

What: Moko Suite, by Marti Friedlander
Where and when: FHE Galleries, 2 Kitchener St, to March 20
TJ says: A touching record of a generation now passed documented by a splendid photographer is seen in its entirety before going permanently to Te Papa as a gift.

What: Shanghai, Ye! Shanghai, by Jin Jiangbo
Where and when: Starkwhite, 510 Karangahape Rd, to March 20
TJ says: Technically and visually superb panoramic photographs that show Shanghai drained of colour even as its architecture is transformed in a spectacular way.

For gallery listings, see www.nzherald.co.nz./go/artlistings