Lilith and Cruithne

October 7 - 29, 2011

Hannah and Aaron Beehre

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.

These glittering framed drawings are seen through the spiky presence of Rumbleparka. Comprising nine freestanding triangles of clear acrylic lit from their bases, these uprights steeple into space. Folded gently (but critically) at the shoulder, LED light floods their feet. Radiant light gets bounced around corners, played along a variety of edge, and then reflected across this cluster of form. Each light is the same colour, but this chromatic wash changes - slowly, smoothly, and in between looks. From a glacial blue through lavender to magenta, the evolution is gradual. Rumbleparka is a quiet interior mountain; its action resides within.

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
acrylic and phased LED lights
dimensions variable

Diamond drawings, 2010 - 11
Hope
Blue Heart
Red Cross
Eureka
De Beers
Cullinian II
coloured pencil and charcoal on paper
dimensions various, framed

Ash drawings, 2011
Letters to Victor Jouet #1-5
charcoal and conte on paper
750 x 550mm framed