Whanganui artists' crushes on display

Paul Rayner (left) with one of his works, and Michael Haggie at Crush, their exhibition at Community Arts Centre. Photo / Paul Brooks

Crush is an exhibition featuring recent works by three Whanganui artists of renown: Tia Ranginui, Michael Haggie and Paul Rayner. On now at Whanganui Community Arts Centre, it comprises three very different bodies of work.

Paul and Michael are friends, so exhibiting their work together is not unusual.
"About seven or eight months ago, I said to Paul, 'Who would you like to exhibit with?' And Paul said, 'Tia.' Within the hour I went round to the glassworks," says Michael. "I went straight up to her and said, 'Tia, would you exhibit with Paul and I?' and she, immediately, went, 'Yes'. I was so thrilled."
He says they chose the Community Arts Centre because of its size and that it allows the display of lots of big work.

The trio dealt with Arts Centre trustee, Lidy Schouw.
"Lidy has been more than helpful," says Michael, "And she even gave us another week." The exhibition runs until February 24.

"We decided to call the exhibition 'Crush', because we all have 'crushes' on things," says Michael.
"There is definitely a homage in some of the work," says Paul.

"I'm looking at cowboys that I loved as a boy," says Michael. His wall is a collection of large cowboy images in a style evocative of old movie posters and comic covers.
Some of his paintings are instantly recognisable as stars of Westerns, like Clint Eastwood and Gary Cooper.
"I decided to use single colour backgrounds because I love Warhol and I like the whole Warhol influence of the strong, bold colour. This started with Montgomery Clift …"
Montgomery Clift is in fringed buckskin, looking every inch the Western star.
"I loved the softness of the leather. It's all about clothing and buttons and belts.
"I like the way they stood in all their machismo."
His cowboy in a cerise shirt does not look happy with the colour Michael has made him wear.
There is a nostalgic feel to his work and a real connection to the stars and their films, with a nod to the Marlboro Man.

Tia's work is a series of photographs featuring male nudes in unconventional settings. A warning: some content may offend. There is an artist in his studio, with a nude self-portrait behind his own photographed nude image. Tia has placed two male nudes in the orchid house at Bason Botanic Gardens, and another placed in a taxidermy museum in the Wairarapa. Unusual settings that work really well.
"For Tia, this is a new departure," says Michael. "These mark the beginning of a new series." Her works are not for sale in this exhibition.

Paul says he has painted on hessian again, after a break of about 28 years.
"I might have been prompted to revisit hessian because Millie Mitchell-Anyon curated a show at the National Portrait Gallery and she included one of my paintings on hessian in the show. It was a self-portrait as Dorian Gray, so I decided to do another version, almost 35 years later, the old painting, getting old and decrepit. So it is, literally, the picture of Dorian Gray self-portrait."
Last summer he painted at Bason Botanical Gardens and he has used backgrounds from that for two portraits of Stanley Bason, the original owner of the property.
"There's homage there, there's homage to Miles Davis, Nina Simone, I love their music," says Paul. The wall is a portrait gallery with several paintings in which he has revisited work he did at art school … "Just to get started again, really."

"We had such a great opening," says Michael. Numbers were limited but it was still a festive occasion for the artists and art lovers.
Crush is at the Community Arts Centre, 19 Taupo Quay, until February 24.