puff 535 Tues 5th Oct

Tuesday 5th
Kaupapa koorero moo te raa nei
Te moana me te ngahere

Rangahau
He koorero moo ngaa tuhinga naa Makere Mutu moo te rohe o Ngati Kahu. Ka whai hokitia te whakaaro o kaitiakitanga. E aha a Ngati Kahu i ngaa waa e tuu mai?

Subject of the day
Te moana me te ngahere

Analysis
A discussion about the writings of Margaret Mutu about the district of Ngati Kahu. The idea of kaitiakitanga is also examined. What will Ngati Kahu do in future?
http://www.kaitiakitanga.net/stories/origins%20research.htm

Andrew Moon at Zimmermans in Palmerston NorthAndrew Moon at Zimmermans in Palmerston North

Andrew Moon is interesting. He takes a present- day theme and does it in the way of an old master.

Moon is well presented and has a website; www.moonlighting.art.com
As Andrew Moon says on the site he is self taught. This might mean that he does things that others who are taught might not. He copies in a friendly way and he takes a wry, humorous point of view best seen in the likes of 'Toyboy'. In this a woman sits next to a boy who sems to be made out of cardboard.

Sometimes It is hard to see who exactly Moon is copying. The dark backgrounds evoke the Dutch masters like Rembrandt. But the subjects are sometimes golden and full especially the women and these are like, maybe, El Greco. Hard to put your finger on but it is taken from somewhere and if you looked hard enough you would probably find the exact reference. But in the moment of flicking through a website or walking through a gallery it is impressions that matter.

These are pleasant and amusing paintings to look at. In 'The note' there is a lot of shadow as a woman holds a note with a golden cupid playing a flute above her.

In his website Moon has no problem about explaining things. For example, of Fast Supper he says;

'I’ve always admired Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus”. I wondered what would happen if you updated it into a modern domestic scene, so I gave it a go. Suddenly it’s all fast food and impatience. The sudden belief caused by the blessing becomes disbelief that food might need to be blessed at all, while precious seconds tick by and the food gets cold.'

So there are at least two frames of commentary or humour. One is what the people are actually doing in the painting and the other is a reference back to what the painting copied, the original, let’s say, was about.

At the same time Moon is an original even as he opens up the very question of originality. Who knows, Caravaggio might have copied from someone else.

Should people copy other people in this way? Should Mick Jagger, coming from Sussex or somewhere, have sung Little Red Rooster?

Andrew Moon makes you think and smile and full marks for Zimmermans in Palmerston North for running with him.

Bronwyn Zimmerman writes;
Just a couple of clarifications, but which you needn't make to your post
unless you want to - the "boy" in Toy Boy is actually a yellow Lego figure
(remember those sets of brightly coloured plastic blocks?), and "The Note"
is titled "Absence" in my gallery (although Andrew might have attributed a
different name to that work on his website?)

In case it's of interest to you, below is the write-up on Andrew Moon that
I put up today (Andrew is my "feature artist" for this month).

Once again, thanks for your write up - great stuff!

Kind regards

Bronwyn Zimmerman
Director

ZIMMERMAN contemporary art gallery
zimmerman.co.nz

Ph (06) 353 0122
Open 10am - 4pm daily
art@zimmerman.co.nz

Guardian Trust House
Corner Main Street and The Square
Palmerston North

PO Box 5287
Palmerston North 4414

_______________

Kapiti Coast’s Andrew Moon is a self-taught artist, working mainly in oil
and acrylic.

Andrew is inspired by the realist styles and techniques of a range of Old
Masters. He enjoys working with an emphasis on the harsh lighting
contrasts of chiaroscuro, seeking guidance from 17th Century masters such
as Caravaggio, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

These influences are most clearly portrayed in works such as “Judith
Berating a Loafer” - a modern take on Caravaggio’s 1599 masterpiece,
“Judith Beheading Holefernes”. In similar fashion to Caravaggio, Andrew
uses contemporary subjects and objects to vividly communicate dramatic
moments in time.

Yet Andrew’s wry sense of humour is also evident – these are the works of
a husband and father, who understands human emotion and has experienced
living with teenagers. One work at ZIMMERMAN that has attracted a strong
response is “Oblivion” – a hoodie-clad teenager sits transfixed on her
iPod, while outside a nuclear mushroom silently signals her impending
annihilation.

While Andrew enjoys exploring a range of subjects and settings for his
paintings, he often returns to portraits and people, drawn back by the
challenge and intensity of the human form. And these are the stories that
resonate most with us: we are given a window into the private lives of
real people, their emotions and intimate thoughts captured and laid bare
on canvas.