One of the most significant art events in our annual calendar is taking place next week, with a vast and varied offering that will delight and inspire art lovers and collectors of any taste. Kicking off on the 16th of November and running until the 20th of November, the Aotearoa Art Fair is returning to Auckland’s The Cloud with a roster of impressive international and local gallery stands, as well as a comprehensive programme of art-related events, industry and artist talks and workshops.
This year’s Aotearoa Art Fair will welcome galleries from Sydney, Singapore, Melbourne and Hobart, to sit alongside a raft of our best, most-beloved locals, to showcase some truly exceptional works. The paintings of Guido Maestri, for instance, set to be presented by Yavuz Gallery (based in Sydney and Singapore) mark the first time the artist’s work is showing in New Zealand. (In Australia, his pieces have been purchased by major institutions like the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW.) Elsewhere, stunning pieces by Atom Ateng — a South-Sudanese artist who works primarily with photography and video — will be shown by Mars Gallery (Melbourne), while upstairs from the main area in the ‘He Iti’ space (dedicated to young galleries and artist-run spaces) three new galleries from Melbourne — Future, Haydens and Discordia — will be showcasing a range of interesting works.
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As far as local booths to look out for, Gow Langsford will be showing new paintings by Judy Millar and New York-based neo-conceptualist painter Peter Halley, Sanderson Contemporary will be showing works from Natasha Wright, Kāryn Taylor, Katherine Throne and more, Jhana Millers Gallery will be hosting a solo booth for Jaime Jenkins’ ceramic works, Tim Melville will be showing pieces by Areez Katki and Page Galleries will present works by Reuben Paterson. There will also be an artistic collective of wahine Māori from Tūranganui-a-Kiwa Gisbourne called Hoea! Gallery, showing some incredible pieces in the He Iti space.
Outside the gallery booths, Projects is returning for another year (the non-profit exhibition designed to showcase the diversity of contemporary practitioners working across Aotearoa and the Pacific) curated by Micheal Do. Titled ‘Aotearoa Made’, this year’s exhibition sees the Aotearoa Art Fair commission seven artists from across the country to reflect upon our inherited understandings of land, geography and national identity, and is set to present some stunning pieces, showcased at The Cloud, as well as in Britomart and at the Yu Mei store in Commercial Bay. There will also be a separate Sculpture Space, which will include works by Simon Lewis Green, Semisi Fetokai Potauaine, Gregor Kregar, Monique Lacey and Paul Dibble.
Offering something a little more interactive is the Aotearoa Art Fair’s Talks Programme, curated by Zara Stanhope of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery with support from Creative NZ and comprising a series of panel discussions designed to stimulate public debate. Similarly, there will be a comprehensive programme of Artist Talks on Stands, which will see your favourite artists talking casually and candidly about their works (the timetable can be found here).
All of this offers just a small window into what to expect from this year’s Aotearoa Art Fair. A true testament to the wellspring of artistic talent (and appetite for art collecting) we have here, the Art Fair is a must-visit, and as such, we have decided to give one lucky Denizen reader the chance to win a double pass to its official opening night (the best time to snap up some of the most sought-after pieces before the crowds).
The competition is now closed.
