Hamish Macaulay with some of his work at the Eames Fine Art Gallery in southeast London.
Hamish Macaulay with some of his work at the Eames Fine Art Gallery in southeast London.
A Waikanae artist has returned to Kāpiti from a sellout show in London.
Hamish Macaulay showcased his exhibition Changing Light at the Eames Fine Art Gallery, near Tower Bridge, last month.
The paintings used various mediums, such as charcoal, chalk, aerosol, coloured pencil and chine collé (a printmaking technique), reflecting “the breathtaking landscapes of New Zealand”.
Macaulay and his partner Jen Wiggle took 73 of his works to England in their luggage to ensure they got there safely.
Wiggle said packing everything was quite difficult but they wanted to hand-deliver the works to the team at the gallery.
The exhibition, which ran from July 31 to August 11, was framed, curated and hung in just over a week, Macaulay said.
Hamish Macaulay giving his artist's talk.
The opportunity to present in the gallery came about quickly, he said, and it was challenging to create enough works to fill the exhibition in such a short time.
“I had been developing a new process working with mixed media and wanted to integrate it into this body of work. It involved testing and trying out the new approaches, but thankfully it all came together in the end.”
He said the opening function was a huge success and he sold some of his works before the show officially opened. Everything had sold by the end of the first weekend.
Wiggle said: “The gallery team were adding further work to the exhibition from their archive of Hamish’s art – which also included four new works he had created whilst in London.”
“It felt utterly amazing,” Macaulay added. “For any artist, a sellout show is a dream come true – it was more successful than I could have possibly imagined.”
He hoped viewers would see scenes in his work that resonated with them.
“I love it when someone tells me a work reminds them of a place they have visited – quite often it is somewhere I have never been. I love that people are able to connect with my work and tell their own story.”
As part of his exhibition, there was a New Zealand wine evening for the gallery’s top collectors, where London-based Theatre of Wines paired four New Zealand wines with Macaulay’s paintings and presented information and tasting notes.
At the end of the exhibition, Macaulay was able to present an artist’s talk, giving guests information about the works, and a Q&A session in conversation with the gallery’s co-director, Vincent Eames.
Macaulay’s next endeavour will be with Art in the Park, which runs from September 19 to 22 at Eden Park in Auckland. He will also be participating in the Kāpiti Coast Art Trail in November.
“I’m looking forward to welcoming new and old collectors into my studio to see a selection of my new work.”
