It’s not every day an artist’s work is exhibited exclusively in a residential building.
It’s not every day that one artist’s work is exclusively adorned in a residential building. And this is no ordinary artist, nor will this be an ordinary building.
Revered New Zealand painter Max Gimblett has based himself in the US since the 1960s, and New York since the 70s. His work is held in galleries, museums and private collections here and throughout the globe. Now plans are afoot for specially commissioned works of Max’s to feature in the soon-to-be-built Elysian Apartments in the historic character suburb of Parnell.
“It’s a very unusual situation for a developer to commission a single artist to do the whole building,” says art dealer Gary Langsford of the Gow Langsford Gallery, which has represented Max for 30 years. “To some respects, that will make it an iconic building.”
The Elysian’s 16 luxury apartments will be situated at 25 Balfour Rd, a prime, north-facing location with sweeping harbour views. Designed by award-winning Crosson Architects, with interior design by Sarah Foote, each apartment will boast a high stud, high-end materials, and a serene sense of openness, the building’s refined interior aesthetic an ideal canvas to showcase Max’s powerful works.
Perhaps the most striking piece to feature in the building will be what Gary refers to as a “museum-quality work” installed in the grand Elysian lobby. The Open Road is a 70x140″ horizontal vision inspired by the New Zealand landscape—”its endless and open sky and ocean, lush vegetation and rich earth,” as Gimblett himself describes it. Elsewhere, a Max Gimblett piece will feature on each level of the new building, the painter’s use of unusual materials representing a different facet of nature.
“Gold is consciousness, extroverted, the sun. Platinum and silver are the unconscious, introverted, the moon. Variegated leaf is grounded, the earth,” Gimblett explains.
The story behind this extraordinary commission is also based in nature. Given the apartments’ elegant design, developer Hannah Williamson of HR Group says she knew she wanted something special to adorn the Elysian’s public areas. But it wasn’t until a chance meeting tramping the Milford Track that she got to know art advisor Helen Klisser During, who introduced her to Max Gimblett’s work. Helen is an international art advisor, curator and the cofounder of ArtScience LAB at AUT. The two became friends, and soon Helen took Hannah on the first of many visits to the Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland’s CBD.
“I fell in love with Max’s art and I felt that his work is not only visually beautiful but also his spiritual colours and gold, silver and copper gilding over paint on quatrefoil is truly inspirational and a great fit for the elegance of the Elysian apartments,” Hannah explains.
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Advertise with NZME.Together, Gary and Helen approached the New York-based artist and arrangements were made to commission site-specific works. Max had no hesitation in agreeing to the proposal.
“Whenever Gow Langsford Gallery and Helen During work together and approach me with a project I know that it’s going to be deeply interesting and inspired,” says Max. “It’s a no-brainer — a fantastic opportunity to relate to the building and its occupants. My works are always created with an audience in mind, and it is an honour to have this community living with these works in the shared space of the Elysian apartments.”
The new exhibition spaces — in a luxurious new apartment building no less — mark yet another milestone in what has been a long and distinguished artistic career. It was 1983 when Max began working with his signature shape, the quartrefoil, an ancient shape popular in Gothic and Renaissance times.
“It’s an iconic kind of image,” says Gary. “He’s really the only artist in the world who has made that a contemporary element.”
Max is now in his 80s and continues to paint and mentor the next generation of painters from his studio in the Bowery. The prolific painter and calligrapher has imbued much of his work with his Buddhist learnings as a Rinzai Zen monk — just as he approaches the works themselves with a Zen sense of being completely in the moment, an approach he explains is a concept known as ‘mushin’, ‘one stroke bone’ and ‘all mind no mind’.
“Within and during the act of painting no thinking is allowed, it is pure feeling,” says Max. “It has been this way since my first paintings in 1965. For the Elysian commission all of this will be in play.
“I hope the works are points of contemplation for residents of the Elysian and their guests. Ultimately, I want my work to broaden and elevate the consciousness of the viewer and in this particular instance I would be very happy for the paintings to offer a moment of beautiful pause, reflection, and insight.”
For more information on the Elysian Apartments visit Elysian Parnell
