A Message from Planet Zonked

With an immediacy and effortlessness that belie their cleverness, the profusion of works that make up A Message from Planet Zonked proffer witty, satirical observations on science, society and life in all its diversity. And quirky indeed are these observations. If the exhibition title really does come from afar, there is nonetheless a familiar, even local flavour to the insights that echo around the gallery walls. Aliens, to be sure, do converse in a number of the drawings, but so too do cats, cows, caterpillars, camels and an extraordinary array of creatures great and small, each articulating opinions and comments from a very personal perspective. They are, as Christopher Moore writes in an article entitled Top Drawer, GO Arts, The Press, August 28, 2009, “…characters caught in the headlights like possums on a night road.”

 

And these works are funny, hilarious in fact, with the occasional vulnerable poignancy thrusting its head above the surface. Little escapes the amusement of Braunias, from the ‘so far out of left field’ Johnny Rotten’s piano-playing grandmother, to the rather wicked digs at art critics and the NZ art establishment itself.

Braunias, who believes drawing to be essential to the human spirit, describes the ideas for this current body of works as a stream of consciousness, going off at different tangents but linked by the drawing style and messages. He sees the beauty of drawings as allowing a conversation between the viewer and the artist. By putting his characters behind a 1970’s Brother typewriter, Braunias lets them talk to the audience, mistakes, twink and all. The directness and the mechanical aspects of the typewritten text have just the right visual weight and wonkiness to express the intimate, human quality of these works.