Lilith and CruithneOctober 7 - 29, 2011
Forces of nature have materialised, crystallised, or at the very least been given a certain focus by Hannah and Aaron Beehre in Lilith and Cruithne, their show at Jonathan Smart Gallery until October 29th. Think tumult and compression – welcome to Christchurch.
But with compression can come extraordinary beauty. Your favourite famous diamond might be here – carefully rendered in coloured pencil in all its faceted glory. We have Eureka, Blue Heart, Red Cross and Cullinan II amongst others. These stones have such compromised stories of ownership, which parallels their visual complexity. They are alluring from afar, but with intimacy (and ownership) they reveal subtleties that like flaws, almost critique their own value.
From even deeper within and more obviously explosive, is the sequence of framed ash drawings on the wall adjacent. Like talismans of trauma, these are virtuoso charcoal drawings of underwater volcanic eruptions. Entitled Letters to Victor Jouet (a Frenchman who established The Museum of Holy Souls in Purgatory), these drawings suggest an almost liminal yearning, or a profound marking of moments and states of change.
List of works: Rumbleparka, 2011 Diamond drawings, 2010 - 11 Ash drawings, 2011
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