NORTH AND SOUTH
MARK WOOLLER AND JOHN TOOMER
May 30-JUNE 14
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North and South is an exhibition exploring New Zealand’s identity and history through the lens of two landscape artists. Mark Wooller and John Toomer have spent their artistic careers painting New Zealand's North and South Islands respectively. Sensitive to their individual regions, the curation of the two artists together will explore the stories of New Zealand, our topography, landscape and heritage.
Documenting change is of fundamental importance for a society, and our artists are conduits for capturing and preserving these changes. The two artists of this exhibition have dedicated themselves to this cause, thoughtfully and consistently documenting New Zealand for over 30 years. Landscape is a start point for both artists, but it is the inclusion of the human trace, our engagement and connection with the landscape that brings their paintings to life, presenting us rich and complex narratives. |
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
JOHN TOOMER
John Toomer
Winter at Teviot Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 990 x 590mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Railway Wagons at Hyde Station Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 890 x 550mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Abandoned Farmhouse in the Ida Valley Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 920 x 420mm 2024 |
John Toomer
July Snow at Wedderburn Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 700 x 1240mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Sunlight & Shadows at Chatto Creek Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 740 x 390mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Shearers Huts at Home Hills Station Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 300 x 700mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Last Light on the Shearers Kitchen- Home Hills Station Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 610 x 900mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Old Schoolhouse at Blackstone Hill- Maniototo Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 1150 x 650mm 2024 |
John Toomer
Farm House and Buildings- Mid Canterbury Oil on Canvas, Tray Framed 490 x 940mm 2024 |
MARK WOOLLER
Mark Wooller
Harbour Crossing Oil on Canvas 1000 x 1200mm 2024 BACKSTORY- Harbour Crossing
Harbour Crossing captures Auckland's Downtown looking out over the Waitematā toward Devonport, featuring the original coastline of the city. The waterscapes are filled with the early waka and scows that travelled through these waters. These vessels are captured in a map like grid, denoting travel, the passage of time, the movements of people and the impacts these movements had on the land and our history. In the foreground 'Markers' stand to delineate a moment in history... a moment before massive change to the people and to the environment. The markers are placed in the landscape here by a unknown hand, the ribbon or rag flows in the wind, denoting a change in the air. |
Mark Wooller
Hauraki Oil on Canvas 800 x 600mm 2024 BACKSTORY- HAURAKI
A map of the Hauraki Gulf, reimagined with all the implicit promises of routes new and old, in and out of the unknown. This piece is a celebration of the Hauraki Gulf, with its Pohutukawa clad islands, rich sea life and diverse history. Translations:
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Mark Wooller
Mahurangi Marker Oil on Canvas 600 x 600mm 2024 BACKSTORY- MAHURANGI MARKER
The ‘Marker Paintings’ capture a moment in time. A moment before massive change to the people and environment. The markers are placed in the landscapes here by an unknown hand, the ribbon or rag flows in the wind, denoting a change in the air. The red ribbon shown here, might represent Papatuanuku, the earth mother, the sustainer of all living things. Te Whei Ao, the realm of coming into being, the forest. Rahui, a prohibition, here to protect a resource. |
Mark Wooller
Hauturu from Leigh Oil on Canvas 800 x 800mm 2024 BackSTory- Hauturu FRom LEIGH
Te Hauturu-o-toi Resting place of the wind From its position at the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf, Hauturu rises majestically from the sea. A stand of Kauri in the foreground, standing where the seaside village of Leigh (Omaha cove) now lies. |
Mark Wooller
Bush Town Oil on Canvas 500 x 500mm 2024 BACKSTORY- bush Town
A clearing in a forest/bush. Development and growth in a changing landscape. A move to the town, from wood to brick, from old quiet to new clamour. Bush Town is in many ways a pure expression of Wooller’s core ideas. From the beauty of the way the artist depicts the bush, to the gridding and expansion of the city blocks. This work speaks to urban planning, on our way of organising the natural, forming our own sense of place and our wonder of starting again. |
Mark Wooller
Commercial Bay Oil on Canvas 600 x 600mm 2024 BACKSTORY- commercial bay
The work Commercial Bay depicts the busy urban scene of Queen Street and adjacent streets from its early days. Central to this composition is the small stream that still runs under Queen Street, Wai-Horotiu. The markers symbolise the early stake by settlers in the area and the quickly rising structures of what is now Auckland’s CBD. The ‘Markers’ in the foreground of the work capture a moment in time. Wooller includes these markers in the piece as Nga Tohi Pumahara (survey pegs of the past), or as memory. Te Rerenga-or-iti, ‘The leap of the survivors’. The headland later renamed to Point Britomart, and then later removed. Te Nga u-wera, ‘Burnt Breasts’, the head at the mouth of the Wai Horotiu stream. The piece is titled Commercial Bay, a name that described the activity of the bay. |
Mark Wooller
Moehau- Coromandel Oil on Canvas 800 x 1000mm 2024 BACKSTORY- MOEHAU
This piece depicts a stylised map of the Moehau forest range in the northernmost tip of the Coromandel peninsula. Te Moengahau-o-Tamatekapua, The windy sleeping place of Tamatekapua (captain of one of the great canoes used by Maori to settle New Zealand) The construction of this piece by Wooller inspires the idea of sequential island-hopping, as done by Tamatekapua when discovering Aotearoa for the first time. With our continued personal exploration of the Hauraki, this piece gives a sense of our own connection to the ideas of exploration and discovery in our own lives. |
Mark Wooller
Tāmaki Makaurau Marker Oil on Canvas 600 x 600mm 2024 |