Homely Bones takes a gothic aesthetic and recasts it in red and white felt. There are skeletons and body bits, birds, cloaks, and swords.
14 September - 1 October
Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington Homely Bones takes a gothic aesthetic and recasts it in red and white felt. There are skeletons and body bits, birds, cloaks, and swords.
14 September - 1 October
Mary Newton Gallery, WellingtonHaving recently shifted from Auckland to Whanganui, Du Chatenier was struck by the range of natural materials and associated skills available in the area.
"The opportunity shops are full of home knits and turned wooden bowls which have a real sense of homeliness about them. We tend to associate the quality of these materials and skills with another era but they are common place here" she said.

The red/white colours also come from the region - the suburb of Aramoho where she lives - where wannabe young gangsters wear the colours of the gang they are affiliated with. "The colours are homely and kind of homie" she said, "just like felt, the gang colours are like some protective layer or insulation."
German artist Joseph Beuys also used felt symbolically for it's protective qualities. "He optimistically believed in a world that could be healed through an understanding of nature. For New Zealanders wood and wool are the grass-roots products that we optimistically believed would sustain our economy. Both products have been extensively imitated by synthetic materials which have often proved more efficient. The materials are now symbolic of a nostalgic ideal of authenticity that haunts our national psyche."

For more information or images please contact Paula Newton or Mary-Jane Duffy

Mary Newton Gallery
150 Vivian Street
Wellington

Tel: 64 4 385 1699