Balanced equation of mass and energy

By TJ McNAMARA


Sometimes in the galleries around Auckland there is a pleasant coincidence of styles and motifs. This week is an exhibition of sculpture and another of painting that share the feeling of energy streaming back from a profile.

The big exhibition is Soft Geometric by Paul Dibble at the Gow Langsford Gallery until October 16. All his sculptures, cast in bronze in his foundry, combine monumentality with a flow of energy. Movement flows over, along and out behind them. Yet they are strong enough to be excellent outdoor sculptures.

It is easy to achieve monumentality. A great lump of unworked stone standing in isolation can be extraordinarily monumental. The trick is to achieve the sense of weight and permanence but also to fill your heavy work with life and thrust.

Dibble's big bronzes get part of their monumentality from their heavy pedestals. Poised on these are clean, uncomplicated sculptures with a clear outline and springy curves. They curl over with a hint of a wave towards a flat, horizontal surface which counterpoints back by leading to a shape, often a koru, thrusting into the main form.

This scooped-out enclave is often balanced by a circular hole through the work. On the flat surface is a ball that is heavy but playful.

The sculptures refer to many things as well as wave forms. They share a lot of shapes with traditional bone carving and, without being specific, suggest fish thrusting through water or a whale or a seal gambolling in the sea.

These pieces are double-sided and best seen directly from the side. Sometimes the only difference between one side and the other is a different placement of slight decoration, such as a spiral.

Yet one work at least, Soft Geometric medium 2, seen from directly in front gives a strong feeling of a prow moving through water.

The koru emphasises the New Zealand origin of the work but it is also a source of much of the energy since it confers a sense of force even when it is upside down and used to suggest the tail of a fish, as in medium 8.

The smaller works, which are on circular bases rather than pedestals, do not have the same impact as the large works but are appealingly decorative, lively sculpture for all that.

The motif of a profile with energy streaming out behind is also found in some paintings of exceptional quality by Paul van den Berg at the Studio of Contemporary Art in Newmarket until Saturday.

His works show the decorative art of the School of Paris that produced Picasso and Matisse and all their followers is far from dead.

These are traditional paintings where the attractiveness of the image is paralleled by the dexterous handling of paint and subdued but rich colour to make compositions of considerable charm.

Most of the paintings feature young women, and everything in the painting evolves from their faces, whether they are seen full frontal as an elegant oval topping Woman in Blue or as a profile against a dark background with hair streaming back in Sculpture on a Table.

Most subtle of all is Woman in Yellow which combines exciting areas of abstract paint with a woman who is both angel and sparklingly modern. This is a small show arriving out of the blue but one of quality within its type.

One of the longest-established types of painting is the portrait and this week there are two portrait shows. One of our outstanding portraitists is Martin Ball, who brings his splendid gifts as a draughtsman to a show at the John Leech Gallery until October 16.

He also brings to the task of creating a likeness the capacity to work on a large scale. Portrait of a Young Man after Rita Angus shows much skill, delicacy and insight but what really makes an impact is the huge portrait of John Pule, 10 times life-size.

These paintings are an almost photographic likeness but, like all good paintings, they bear the close scrutiny which leads to admiration of the artist's skill in finding an equivalent in paint for the details of the face.

The portraits are filled with a great sense of sympathy, which makes the large eyes and sensitive mouth of Lisa Reihana real and important, emphasises the strength of the features of Elizabeth Ellis and, in a device which is much more than a trick, places Ralph Hotere's lived-in face and grey moustache between the black of his beret and the black of his top to allude obliquely to the way the artist has valued black.

This is the potent expression of a traditional skill.

Across the courtyard of Khartoum Place at Oedipus Rex until October 9 is another show of portraits by Isaac Leuchs. These, too, have the appeal that comes from catching a likeness.

The painter's ideas are embodied sometimes in an old-fashioned style, such as the anonymous portrait in black and white which emphasises the flourish of collar and tie. The best support for the face comes when a setting is provided in the way Sally at George Street stares challengingly from a haven in a sea of sheets and blankets, whereas Amber Wallace sleeps safely within similar folds.

To paint in such a traditional way shows courage in a young artist and Leuchs combines it with considerable skills.