Starkwhite Artists Explore The Psychology of Safety
This March Starkwhite Queenstown is opening a must-see exhibition titled SAFE which promises as many surprises as questions.
Featuring the work of Amanda Newall (NZ/UK) and Olav Westphalen (GER/US) SAFE explores the psychology of safety and illusions of protection. Offering a cultural geography of time, place, and collective anxiety, the exhibition takes a deep dive into billionaire bunkers and childhood toys alike.
Working across costume, drawing, video, and installation, the artists’ collaboration offers an intriguing exploration of one of our fundamental needs: safety. But how has this basic need been commodified, taken to extreme expressions, and projected into objects? Alongside a selection of antique velvet capes, hoodies, and drawings Newall has included a costume that casts back to her childhood. “Blue Ted is from memory, a human scale replica of the first teddy bear my grandmother purchased for me when I was newly born” the artist tells. But how does super-sizing a teddy into a wearable costume of human scale change its intentions… when does cute become creepy, or overwhelming?
As the mythology of New Zealand as an unaffected paradise teeters, Olav Westphalen’s project Bolthole Down considers the rumoured billionaire hideaways in the Queenstown-Lakes region and the growing phenomenon of survivalist prepping. Across a series of drawings Westphalen depicts vertical cross sections showing imagined bunkers infiltrating the land. Hung in a group on the gallery wall they take on the feeling of a crime scene investigation, an evidence board of place, motive, and logistics.
Join the artists at the exhibition opening of SAFE from 5pm on Thursday 2 March at Starkwhite Queenstown. Amanda and Olav will give a short artists’ talk at 6pm.
Originally from Canterbury but now living in London, Amanda Newall is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. She is the current recipient of the Olivia Spencer Bower Foundation Award. Her collaborator Olav Westphalen is Professor of Drawing at Hochschule für Künste, Bremen, Germany and will be joining Amanda in Queenstown for the exhibition opening and artist workshops.
10am, SATURDAY 4 MARCH: Olav Westphalen – Inside Drawing
Join Olav Westphalen for a practical drawing workshop. This workshop is based on the principles of his project the Palliative Turn as well as ideas borrowed from Hans Hofmann, Paul Cezanne, Paul Klee, Kinesiology and other sources.
10am, SUNDAY 5 MARCH: Amanda Newall and Megan Dunn – The Serious Side of Care Bears: A creative workshop to tempt the inner child
Childhood is often associated with creativity and imaginative play. Adulthood not so much. In this workshop artist Amanda Newall (NZ/ UK) and author Megan Dunn (NZ) will use creative writing prompts and collage to guide participants towards conjuring a version of their ‘inner child’ or ‘artist self.’
Places for both workshops are limited, email kelly@starkwhite.co.nz to book.
SAFE runs from 2 March – 1 April at Starkwhite Queenstown
