New group exhibition at Broker Galleries
Contemporary art gallery, Broker, is showcasing a group exhibition, The Insiders, from now and through to the start of 2023. It will feature six artists from Australia and New Zealand and spans across photography, video, painting and drawing. It examines each of the artist’s contemplation of the internalisation of emotional and phycological states within the external, physical spaces of our existence.
The exhibition is the 14th show for the gallery since it opened in January 2021. Founder and Director Marc Blake came up with the concept of the show before doing some research to find who he thought would be appropriate to approach. Three of the artists involved have exhibited with Broker before and three are new arrivals. The artists include Sarah Bultitude, who is based in Queenstown, Jane Reynolds, Caryline Boreham, Tori Beeche, Ekaterina Dimieva and Blair McLeod.
“Every show is kind of different. For this one I had the initial idea of the kind of show I wanted to put on, in terms of the theme, and then I was liaising with the artists. I flew up to Auckland and met with them and went on studio visits over about a three-month period to organise. We did the opening and that included three artists coming down from Auckland. We did a talk to everyone who was here and discussed the ideas, the concepts and the history behind what they do, which was very fun,” says Mark.
One work on display will be Caryline’s video, Palmolive, which won the 2021 National Contemporary Art Award. In the video a container of hand soap is tipped over into another container and slowly empties itself over 15 minutes – an everyday yet captivating moment. Other works on display include Sarah Bultitude’s photographs that are constructed portraits and scenes, Jay Reynold’s paintings of intricately arranged geometric and domestic objects, and Blair McLeod’s graphite pencil on paper drawings, which evolve and expand across the page.
Mark finds it encouraging to see more art in Queenstown and says “I’ve tried my best over the last three years to try and help bring a whole lot of new ideas and approaches to contemporary art especially. I’m very pleased to see more and more things being offered here and facilities opening and galleries popping up – I’m happy to be a part of it.
“The general concept behind the show was to create a kind of landscape show that focused more on the interior, in terms of still lives and views of rooms, and an intensive and more psychological approach as well.”
Next up for Broker is for them to present at the Aotearoa Arts Fair in Auckland in March – this will make them the first ever Queenstown gallery to be selected to take part in the event. The Insiders will be on display
throughout December and January at Broker Galleries on the ground floor of 36 Grant Road, Frankton. You can find out more about the artists and exhibition at brokergalleries.com
