A Group Show

Elemental Journey at Elephant Hill

An immersive experience of art, wine and food with dishes designed by Chef James Beck alongside Sea, Earth and Stone Wine by Elephant Hill and a theatrical art installation show by Ahuriri Contemporary. Exhibiting artists including:

LEIGHTON UPSON

All my paintings are based on one place within a native forest fragment in Ngāmotu/New Plymouth, on Te Ātiawa iwi land. They investigate ways of exploring, connecting with, and communicating with the remaining 5% of our lowland forest.

Leighton’s works are held in important private collections including the Wallace Arts Trust and he has been a finalist for the Wallace Art Awards and National Contemporary Art Awards.

▸ TAMATI HOLMES, Ngati Kahungunu, Te Ati Awa

From within my whanau-sphere, I was nurtured and nourished by problem-solvers, and creative minds alike, encouraged to observe and create by doing.

I have been privileged and honored to work with and learn alongside many inspirational mentors and teachers throughout my toi journey. As a result, I have expanded on my art practice through mindful review and planning to refine and enrich my ongoing repertoire.

I draw inspiration from my heritage to help inform and span our cultural differences to overcome unconscious disparities to empower us to stride forth.

KAYLA ADAMS

K Adams (they/them) creates sculptures that weave time, culture, people and place together, drawing on ancient symbolism and forging them into a medium that will last millennia: bronze.

Their life work is dedicated to exploring The Major Arcana, a portion of the tarot, which is rooted in ancient Hermetic mysticism. When each person of the tarot tradition holds it, it shifts, bringing more breath to the scope of what’s represented, broadening the lens of this symbolism. K Adams spends hundreds of hours doting over the details of their work, turning it around in their hands, feeling the textures of these stories, communing with the symbols in order to connect with them and retell these stories within a tangible format.

▸ KIRK NICHOLLS

Kirk Nicholls was raised in Auckland and Dunedin in an artistic family. He started his career as a film and television sculptor and model maker in Australia and New Zealand, and worked as a sculptor while living in Japan. For the last fifteen years Kirk has been living in Whanganui and working full time as a sculptor. He works in a range of disciplines from painted wall reliefs to 3D sculpture using recycled plastic.

ROHAN WEALLEANS

Rohan Wealleans occupies various guises – painter, performer, offender, worldmaker – gleefully infusing his work with intricate fictions. The artist disregards categorisations like ‘high’ and ‘low’ in favour of diverse, at times otherworldly interests creating a curious fusion of painting and sculpture.

Rohan Wealleans completed a Master of Fine Arts in painting at the University of Auckland in 2003 and in the same year won the Waikato Art Prize. In 2006 he was the winner of the 15th Annual Wallace Art Award. Since 2001, Wealleans has exhibited regularly both in New Zealand and internationally and his work is held in a range of important private and public collections in Aotearoa.

HYE RIM LEE

Hye Rim Lee invites us to become enveloped by the world of TOKI, a magical/mythical/3D character that has been her creation and her practice for over 17 years. TOKI explores the contemporary pop culture and cyber trend between West and East in the challenge of mixing old mythology and new contemporary myth-making. Lee’s prints made from 3D animation tell a fantasy tale dealing with the world of virtual relationships using sophisticated computer programs with sexual innuendo to drive the viewer’s thoughts while mixing an old technique of photography and dazzling 3D digital effects of glossy glass that optimize perspective, texture, and reflection.

Lee’s work has been exhibited with more than 300 exhibitions worldwide in the major solo and group exhibitions. Her works are held in major public and private art collections internationally.