Featuring works from the Chartwell Collection by thirty-eight New Zealand, Australian and other international artists, the show examines artistic responses and relationships to domestic architecture from the 1970s to today and how artists have worked with the materials and psychology of ‘home’.

The exhibition introduces two new contemporary artworks: one by Los Angeles-based New Zealand artist Fiona Connor and another by emerging New Zealand artist Tim Wagg. Each has been specially commissioned by the Gallery for the exhibition.

Fiona Connor’s Walls #1–#6 and #8 (featuring Rob Gardiner) recreates seven interior walls from around Tāmaki Makarau Auckland and the Waikato on which hang artworks by founder of the Chartwell Trust, Rob Gardiner. Tim Wagg’s work is a video portrait of a young real estate agent set against a backdrop of the commercialised landscape of central Auckland.

Across the show, audiences will encounter a range of artistic approaches from the use of scaffolding and grids to sculptural walls, domestic furniture and home furnishings, and reflections on the psychological characteristics of interior space and the outdoors.

Auckland Art Gallery’s Senior Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland says the theme of this exhibition reflects how the relationship between art and the home has changed since the Chartwell Collection was first established in 1974.

“When the Collection was established, social and domestic attitudes of the post-war period were rapidly changing. Artists in Aotearoa were making use of new second-hand marketplaces and recycled domestic wares, both in their practice and for inspiration,” she says.

“Since then, attitudes to the home have changed. However, none of these changes has been so visible or acute as those we are experiencing now: a broad-scale housing crisis coupled with the effects of Covid-19 lockdowns, working-from-home culture and ongoing building supply issues.”

“Walls to Live Beside, Rooms to Own asks audiences to reflect on the evolving relationship with art and home life; sharpening our attention to the material and social conditions of our housing environment.”

Exhibition details:

When:
Saturday 3 September 2022–Saturday 26 March 2023
10am–5pm daily

Where:
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Cnr Kitchener and Wellesley Streets
Auckland, New Zealand 

Admission:
Free entry 

Artists featured in Walls to Live Beside, Rooms to Own:

Anoushka Akel (NZ, 1977) / Hany Armanious (Aus 1962) / Eve Armstrong (NZ 1978) / Dan Arps (NZ 1976) / Stephen Bambury (NZ 1951) / Andrew Barber (NZ 1978) / Andrew Beck (NZ 1987) / Ruth Buchanan (NZ, Te Āti Awa 1980) / Matt Calderwood (IE 1975) / Ben Cauchi (NZ 1974) / Derrick Cherrie (NZ 1960) / Fiona Connor (NZ 1981) / Martin Creed (SCT 1968) / Paul Cullen (NZ 1949–2017) / Don Driver (NZ 1930-2011) / Oscar Enberg (NZ 1988)/ Alicia Frankovich (NZ 1980)/ Alberto Garcia-Alvarez (ESP/NZ 1928)/ Starlie Geikie (AU 1975) / Diena Georgetti (AU 1966)/ Peter Hawkesby (NZ 1950) / Mary Heilmann (US 1940) / Nikau Hindin (NZ / Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tūpoto 1992) / Julian Hooper (NZ/TONG 1966) / Imi Knoebel (DE 1940)/ Allan McDonald (NZ 1951)/ Daniel Malone (NZ 1970) / Mick Namerari Tjapaltjarri (AU/ Pintupi 1926-1998)/ Kate Newby (NZ 1979) / Suji Park (KOR/NZ 1985) / Oliver Perkins (NZ 1979) / Shona Rapira-Davies (NZ/ Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi 1951) / Peter Robinson (NZ Kāi Tahu / 1966) / Isobel Thom (NZ 1965) / Geoff Thornley (NZ 1942) / Tim Wagg (NZ 1991) / John Ward Knox (NZ 1984) / Justene Williams (AU 1970)

Walls to Live Beside, Rooms to Own is supported by the Chartwell Trust.