AOTEAROA ART FAIR 2026
BLACK DOOR GALLERY
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RYAN CARTERRyan Carter’s latest work stages a quiet rupture within the domestic. Beneath the cultivated surface - florals, bouquets, manicured topiary - lies a tension between presentation and suppression. These symbols of refinement and control become facades, holding in place a more volatile interior of desire, frustration, and impulse.
Encased within a glass box, the work mirrors this condition of containment. Layers build upon one another, suggesting both protection and pressure — a psychological architecture where self-expression presses outward, leaking through in subtle, often unconscious ways. A hidden figurative form embedded within the topiary disrupts the ornamental calm, while the lingering trace of cigarette smoke cuts against the perfection of the bouquet — a quiet act of resistance, or perhaps release. Florals here carry a dual language: they speak of romance, love, and beauty, but also of artifice, performance, and expectation. Carter draws out this contradiction, revealing how desire is both cultivated and constrained within the structures we build around ourselves. An Auckland-based artist working in glass and resin, Ryan Carter creates sculptures that sit at the intersection of illusion, time, and the body. Influenced by his background in performance and writing, his practice carries a dramaturgical sensibility — each work unfolding as a layered scene, rich with implication yet open to interpretation. Carter’s sculptures operate as both object and inquiry. They invite close looking, not to resolve meaning, but to expose its instability — offering instead a space where the viewer’s own projections, tensions, and desires come into play. |
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Jennie De GrootJennie De Groot’s new works, to be released at the Art Fair, draw on the use of whimsical, archaic, and surreal phrases—echoing a quiet “once upon a time” that signals entry into a mythical, timeless space. Each painting is positioned as a possible beginning, inviting the viewer into an experience that is theirs alone.
De Groot approaches landscape as a site of projection, memory, and affect—less a depiction of place and more an exploration of how it is felt and remembered. The forms are loosely anchored in real locations but ultimately constructed through accumulation and revision rather than direct observation. As she notes, her undergraduate studies in archaeology continue to inform this thinking: “I see landscape as something built over time—layered, revisited, and shaped through duration.” Non-naturalistic colour allows the work to move away from fidelity and toward emotional resonance. In this way, abstraction becomes a means of returning to landscape differently-slowing perception, introducing ambiguity, and resisting the immediacy of the easily read image. Each painting begins from a singular idea or memory, but does not seek to describe it, instead leaving space for a more open, subjective experience. |
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Kaye mcgarvaKaye McGarva’s new works for the Art Fair take their cue from terra d’ombra—Italian for “earth of shadow,” the natural pigment known as umber. Traditionally used to create depth and shadow, it becomes here both a material reference and a conceptual anchor.
In McGarva’s practice, colour and form work together to produce distinctly illusory spaces. The rich, earthen browns and subtle tonal shifts give rise to folded, creased surfaces that appear at once tangible and impossible—hovering between painting and object, image and perception. These forms seem to extend into real space, yet remain resolutely flat, unsettling the viewer’s sense of what is seen. As explored in her past work, and in her exhibitions with Black Door Gallery, McGarva is deeply interested in how vision constructs reality. The creases are not literal but perceptual—activated through light, shadow, and careful gradation. In this new body of work, terra d’ombra deepens that enquiry, grounding the paintings in an earthy palette while amplifying their illusory tension, where surface and depth continuously shift and remain unresolved. |
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MARK WOOLLERMark Wooller is a highly regarded contemporary artist whose intricately layered oil paintings explore the deep interconnections between landscape, history, and memory. Working in a refined semi-surrealist style, he draws on archival material, topographic forms, and written language to examine how land holds and reveals human narratives over time.
His works often incorporate survey pegs, gridlines, and inscribed place names—markers of how environments are mapped, named, and transformed, highlighting the enduring relationship between language, identity, and terrain. Wooller’s latest works draw on the landscapes of Waiheke Island, distilling these ideas through his signature visual language. Alongside them, a simplified composition explores the forest as a ribbon-like drawing—reducing form to a continuous, flowing line with clarity and restraint. With a career spanning over three decades, Wooller has held more than 35 solo exhibitions and is represented in major public and private collections in New Zealand and internationally. We are pleased to present new works by Mark Wooller at the 2026 Aotearoa Art Fair. |
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CHRISTINE CATHIEChristine Cathie is a New Zealand–based cast glass artist, born in Wellington and now working from Auckland. Since the late 1990s, she has developed a distinctive practice centred on fluid, abstract sculptural form.
Working in cast lead crystal, Cathie draws lines through space—creating twisting, curving forms that explore the interplay of light, density, and translucency. Her works hold a sense of frozen movement, balancing tension and rhythm while embodying paradox: fragile yet strong, balanced yet precarious, weightless yet substantial. Inspired by the shifting patterns of the natural world, her sculptures possess a quiet luminosity and refined elegance. Cathie is a multi-award-winning artist, a repeated finalist in the Ranamok Glass Prize, and has exhibited widely in New Zealand and internationally. Her work is held in major public and private collections, including Te Papa Tongarewa and Glasmuseet Ebeltoft. We are pleased to present new works by Christine Cathie at the 2026 Aotearoa Art Fair, drawing on her Folded series |
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JULIE MOSELENAuckland-based artist Julie Moselen creates metal-crafted sculptures that investigate the interplay of light and space. Her works range from graceful, fluid forms to monumental, totemic structures, establishing a distinct and resonant visual language. Moselen’s sculptures invite moments of quiet contemplation, offering stillness and repose.
Rooted in her research on ancient pagan sites, stone circles, and burial chambers, Moselen’s abstracted forms convey a universal energy. “My work is simple and elegant in form, guided by the mathematical principles woven throughout nature, and inspired by the belief systems of ancient cultures,” she explains. Moselen carefully considers surface treatments to enhance the unique qualities of her chosen materials, whether through subtle contrasts or striking highlights. For instance, she often contrasts corten steel with gold leaf to create a dynamic, luminous effect. |
Julie Moselen
Sentinel: Held Bronze and 23.5ct Gold Approx 1400mm Height 2026 $16,000 |
Peter & Julie Collis
Lustre Lux Series Hand Built Ceramic with 22ct Gold Lustre Glaze Approx 450mm height 2026 $1800 each Various Designs |
PETER AND JULIE COLLISLustre Lux is a collaboration between two acclaimed ceramicists and partners, Julie and Peter Collis.
The series brings together Peter’s sculptural vessel forms and Julie’s distinctive glazing and sensibility to sit between tradition and play. Drawing on amphora-like silhouettes, the works reference classical function through strong, handled structures; while moving away from utility toward something more expressive and imaginative. The vibrant, lustrous glazing and unexpected scale choices introduce quirkiness and warmth, softening the formality of the vessels while heightening their presence. Together, they connect old and new—classical ceramic language reimagined through colour, wit, and subtle disruption. Lustre Lux is a series of objects that feel both grounded and slightly surreal: familiar in form, yet shifted through surface and intent. Opulence, utility, and play sit in quiet tension, inviting attention, delight, and a sense of wonder. |