The galleries: Domes of shifting shapes

By T.J. McNAMARA

Artists' reputations in any area are sometimes determined by the frequency of their exhibitions. Neil Dawson is a mid-career artist who has established a fine body of work in a recognisably individual style, but it is nearly 10 years since he has had an exhibition in Auckland.

A sculptor such as Dawson to some extent relies on big commissions because his materials are expensive, he likes to work on a large scale and to make his work site-specific - related to its surroundings.

News has filtered through of grandly conceived commissions elsewhere and there are isolated works here, but he is not widely recognised.

That he can work impressively on a domestic scale is splendidly demonstrated by his exhibition at the Peter Webb Galleries on Manukau Rd, a show that sold out within half an hour of opening. It runs until May 1.

The level of his accomplishment and invention is evident in these 15 domes, which are all circular, a metre in diameter, made of steel and pressed out in regular curved discs that vary slightly in depth by the nature of the open pattern on them.

The domes are all fretted patterns with repeat shapes and cut with great accuracy. Obviously advanced technology in computer mapping and profile-cutting equipment is involved.

Some are made up of fine lines, others of thicker bands. Most are sharp edged and geometrical, but curves play their part.

A specially subtle feature is the way some of the works are painted on the reverse so they cast a hint of colour on the white wall behind them by soft reflection.

The qualities of these works lie in their complex interaction of shapes which often play shape-shifting optical games, are always full of visual life and range in effect from jazzy rhythm to thistledown softness.

The starting point for a composition can be things as diverse as a Stealth bomber, a scarf or broken matches, and there are a couple of striking works based on open windows which distantly recall the game the sculptor played with a window from the Auckland Art Gallery to make a monumental work in Albert Park.

The Stealth bomber contributes a dart shape that energises several of the works and sometimes gives them a left to right movement. One work is actually titled Stealth, but the most impressive use of the darts is in Red/Frames/Darts where lines on the surface are picked out in bright red; the forms are sometimes stars, sometimes rectangles, sometimes diamonds, but all shot through with the arrowhead shape.

All of these domes are brilliantly carried through. There are very light ones called Lace. There is one with loose rather than geometric forms called Scarves and some that combine the geometry with a stylised landscape are the Windows series.

Lace and Interlace are among the works that shade the wall with reflected light.

The works are a combination of engineering and lyrical design that is special to Dawson. What contributes to their striking originality is that the artistic, lyrical, joyous aspect of the work saves them from appearing like mathematical uniformity and predictability of Buckminster Fuller geodesic domes.

Elizabeth Rees, whose work is at the Milford Galleries until April 30, has had a regular series of exhibitions in Auckland, so the process towards maturity in her art has been followed since the early days when she, too, had the pleasure of sell-out shows.

This is her best yet. The work has become more painterly, ambiguous and mysterious in both technique and atmosphere so there is more room for viewers to add their imaginative contribution.

There is a tighter tension in this work than hitherto, but like her last show the setting is the edge of some unnamed town. It is evening and young men move along a road or beside a lake for some unknown cause or destination, or perhaps they are not going anywhere. One of the best of the paintings is called Waiting for the World. It is particularly notable for the effect of a distant light.

The finest paint quality is in the portentous skies. There are three small works that have no figures but stark power poles still manage to create a feeling of strangeness against the red sunset skies. The application of the paint is done with considerable verve and this virtuosity of handling adds to the richness of the effect and the drama of the work.

Most of the paintings have two or three figures, mostly seen from the back in a setting of dark foliage. Their action does not set the tone of the painting: that is the function of the colour in reflected light on roads and water, and the colour of the sky. What the figures do is add a note of tension and mystery as well as a pervasive melancholy. The paintings are not social comment but implied dramas where the nature of the situation provides scope for the imagination. Everybody will see these paintings in a different way, and that is their strength.