The galleries: Moko gives grim dignity to spoils of battle

Old, unhappy, far-off things, and battles long ago, is a line from one of Wordsworth's finest poems, The Solitary Reaper, and it could describe Shane Cotton's work at the Gow Langsford Gallery until September 2.

All the elegiac paintings have a rich, dark background which is not so much the setting as the symbol of a clouded process of deep thought.

Such a beautifully painted background and delicacy of surface would of itself make the name of an abstract painter. Yet this dark space for thought is not complete in itself but the vehicle for images that have both universal and specifically Maori levels of reference and meaning.

At the centre of the paintings there is a grim, smoked, severed Maori head where the full moko is prominent. The lips have shrunk from the teeth and the hair straggles.

There is an element of horror but these heads are a symbol of battles of the past, of trophies taken, of sacrifices made.

They are symbols of conflict, heroism and pain. To a New Zealand audience they also suggest the way such heads were carried off to the museums of Europe.

They are powerful enough to be universal symbols of historical conflict, yet they have a grim dignity.

Around these trophies tumble birds, flying, falling, rising and hovering - not native New Zealand birds, but hummingbirds, the most agitated in flight and the tiniest and most vulnerable.

The feeling they give is of souls and spirits moving in the void, sometimes rising, sometimes falling as the mind moves over events of the past.

In the largest painting, Hurikiko, the bird has entered the head.

The viewer is jolted into the modern world by the presence of targets in the paintings which suggest how some things are brought into the sharp focus of attack. Also very modern, and in the paintings glowing blue, are the symbols for fast-forward, pause and rewind, suggesting how the mind moves through time.

They are matched with rocks which suggest coastland, a new land, and unchanging things.

Although the imagery is similar in all the paintings, the variations are striking. Free Fall is notable for a long coastal landscape and the addition of an aeroplane among the birds. Plus Minus powerfully suggests struggles and gains and losses.

All the details are painted with a precision of touch that contrasts with the cloudy void in which they exist and the works have a resonant depth of suggestion. This is a big exhibition with big ideas worthy of the artist's considerable reputation.

There is no melancholy in the work of Niki Hastings-McFall at FHE Galleries until September 30. Aptly named Joy! Joy!! Joy!!!, the exhibition is vivid with colour and light and although the Pacific Island connection is strong, there is a universal appeal.

The Pacific connection is linked to the way all these works are made from artificial flowers.

The flowers are reminiscent of the leis Pacific Islanders wear on festive occasions.

What makes the flowers sing is the way their colour is emphasised by being crowded on to light boxes that illuminate them from behind. The combination of the modern light and the fabric flowers make a severely geometric bouquet and gain intensity by being in the conventional shape of a picture.

Strangely and wittily, the flowers are also attached to the lampshades of more than 20 tall standard lamps. Nothing can be seen of the shades except the fringes dangling beneath the flowers. It is like a forest of light and joy linked to everyday life.

Even the white power cords have the random patterns of roots. It makes a special affirmation about life.

Literally and figuratively between these two exhibitions - at the John Leech Gallery until August 26 - is an exhibition of painting by John Walsh, who has a special way with New Zealand mythology, where myths explain natural phenomena and legends are stories of special beings, half-human and half-god. Walsh paints on hardboard, so that with swift free gestures he can create form and atmosphere by cutting through the surface of the paint to make everything appear in constant movement.

The style provides striking detail, as in the traps for parrots and eels. And it can provide atmosphere in conjunction with Walsh's favourite intense blue colour to suggest the sweep of sea and clouds.

Because the paintings are mostly narratives, they go against the grain of ruling fashion.

Walsh's world is peopled with figures that are unmistakably his, but there are fruitful links to the Maori, who see stories in every plant and hill. The mood of his work is neither melancholy nor joyous, but special to a space before and beyond time.