By Mark Amery Courtesy of The Dominion Post

Opening Tuesday night at DAF106 Gallery was BA$H by Ruby Nekk. Nekk's art is billed as guaranteed to retain its value, and able to be "disassembled and recycled directly into money and materials." An astonishingly good idea; decide whether its good art by visiting 106 Aro Street. Meanwhile at Chaffers Gallery is A Little Piece of Treasure, a group show billed as having "nothing over $1000".

Those are both signs of an increasing interest in art's monetary value. Interest at a time when I find I'm often being asked as a conversation starter whether galleries are closing in the face of hard times. By Mark Amery Courtesy of The Dominion Post

Opening Tuesday night at DAF106 Gallery was BA$H by Ruby Nekk. Nekk's art is billed as guaranteed to retain its value, and able to be "disassembled and recycled directly into money and materials." An astonishingly good idea; decide whether its good art by visiting 106 Aro Street. Meanwhile at Chaffers Gallery is A Little Piece of Treasure, a group show billed as having "nothing over $1000".

Those are both signs of an increasing interest in art's monetary value. Interest at a time when I find I'm often being asked as a conversation starter whether galleries are closing in the face of hard times. I find this question irritating, and it's taken a while to realise why. In essence its because many asking don't appreciate the difference between galleries that sell in much the same way as any retailer sells a line of products, and an art dealer who represents artists as agent and champion. The former come and go with reasonable regularity, chasing the existing market, the latter are a rare talented breed of (hopefully) individual taste who take risks on talent they identify. With luck they're in it for the long haul as a profession.

Wellington has a handful of dealers who have operated through all sorts of ups and downs. Late last year saw the retirement of Janne Land after more than thirty years. Yet a further handful of talented dealers have got well established in recent years.

2009 has already seen two significant new additions to the CBD. After the closure of Bartley Nees Gallery and operation in the interim virtually, Alison Bartley has opened Bartley and Company. It's beyond a rather snazzy gate and welcoming courtyard on Ghuznee Street. Then there's Solander Works on Paper gallery, which has shifted to Willis Street (in the same block as Mark Hutchins Gallery) having outgrown Lyall Bay. They thicken up a cluster of galleries in easy crawling distance from each other.

An increase in galleries has reflected Wellington becoming a more lived in city.
Chaffers Gallery opened last May below the apartments in the old Herd Street Post office, Waitangi Park. With their rather mixed current group exhibition there's the strong sense of a gallery still finding its feet. It moves from the interesting (they're established Australians but - Deb Paauwe and Mark Kimber) and promising to the forgettable and space filling. Chaffers have previously given exhibitions to interesting artists like Lorene Taurerewa and Warwick McLeod so here's hoping.

Under founder Kyla Cresswell Solander has established a strong identity. With the new gallery she has been joined by two business partners and the opening group exhibition, beautifully hung in a smartly-designed space, is a good example of what they do well. A highlight is Glaswegian printmaker Stuart Duffin's Tabula Rasa series, demonstrating why Solander call him one of the world's leading mezzotint artists. With the magic of object theatre, dramatic lighting and varied fabric-like textures emerging from velveteen darkness, Duffin provides a meditation on our troubled relationship with faith. Employing the language of signs and marks old and modern from Jerusalem to provide the viewer with maps, time and memory are caught and radiate spirit.

Bartley opens strongly with text-based sculptural work from established artist Mary-Louise Browne. Browne opens out the rich potential readings within the public ornamental and decorative presentation of language, from a movie poster to a memorial. She provides challenging, often rewarding plays between the prosaic and poetic, weighing the imaginative value of words as objects and emblems. Her work is at its most interesting for me when it is at its most poetically playful in talking to the material being used. There are several new works in neon here. It's a material whose use for text in art is well worn, and it's at its most effective here for me when the words speak strongly to its gaseous stillness and its design, such as in a movie poster style rendering of the words 'Dead Calm'.

At the far end hangs an old Browne mirror work into which are engraved the words 'In fortune or bad fortune, one strong woman'. I read this as message from artist to dealer, applauding Bartley but challenging her to fight for the art she believes in.

Mary-Louise Browne, Bartley and Company Art, until 21 February. Stuart Duffin, Kelvin Mann and Marian Maguire, Solander Works on Paper, until 28 February. A Little Piece of Treasure, Chaffers Gallery, until 28 February

Image Tabula Rasa Fragile by Stuart Duffin

Related story:

New Solander Gallery exhibition

05/02/09