Performance painter Julia Holden creates living work of art at Whanganui's Sarjeant Gallery

Julia Holden with selected works "Maven Fuller" and "Wartime Wendy" at the Sarjeant on the Quay Gallery. Photo/Stuart Munro

Sarjeant Gallery assistant curator Jessica Kidd submitted her face as a canvas for artist Julia Holden to transform into somebody else.

Before an audience of invited guests, Holden recreated Yvonne Todd's portrait, Maven Fuller, on Kidd's face.

Holden, who is the current artist in residence at Tylee Cottage in Whanganui, is a performance painter who says she pays homage to other artists by recreating their work on living models.

Her residency coincides with the Sarjeant Gallery's 125: Celebrating Women from the Collection exhibition, which runs until February 2019.

She has selected several portraits from this collection exhibition to paint, including Ann Verdcourt's ceramic work, Wartime Wendy, and Edith Collier's painting, Cornish Woman of Spanish Descent.

"I have used mostly historic paintings for my recent work and I like making that connection from the past to the present."

Todd's photographic, modern portrait is something of a departure for the artist.

A recent project for Holden was Lyttelton Redux - an audio-visual project where modern residents of the port town were painted with portraits of significant historical figures.

Holden graduated from Elam in Auckland with a bachelor of fine arts in 2007 and gained a master of fine arts by research from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, in 2011.

Watch the video of Holden's Thursday night performance :

Posted by Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare O Rehua Whanganui on Wednesday, 28 November 2018