Andrew Barber: Lean
31 October - 21 November 2008

Starkwhite is pleased to present Lean, an exhibition of paintings by Auckland-based artist Andrew Barber, from 31October to 21 November 2008.

Barber comes from a long line of landscape gardeners dating back to Guy de La Brosse, a renowned botanist and author of De la nature, and creator of Jardin des Plantes, a botanical garden of medicinal herbs commissioned by the King Louis XIII. He cites this lineage as an apparent source of his ongoing fascination with the idea of landscape.

Sourced from memory and painted quickly (he calls it 'automatic painting') the smudged, out-of-focus and unfinished works in his current exhibition hover between landscape and abstraction, posing as one while referencing the other, which is a device he commonly employs in his work. In an earlier series of paintings exhibited at Gambia Castle, what at first appeared to be typical minimal paintings - bare configurations of white lines - turned out to be maps of tennis courts. Barber rightfully insisted that the courts - painted from a bird's-eye - were also landscapes. In the exhibition Lean he presents hazed, sylvan landscapes each with subtle, Mrkusich-like corners, again suggesting there is more at work than meets the eye. By referencing one of New Zealand's most influential abstract painters (Milan Mrkusich), the paintings reveal themselves as highly thought out conceptual works addressing the polar schools of landscape and abstraction.

Barber's recent exhibitions/projects include: How to paint a window, Gambia Castle (2008); Six man stand-up tent, a tale of redemption, Gambia Castle (2008); Country Painting, Starkwhite (2007); Andrew Barber: New Work, Starkwhite (2007); Andrew Barber, Gambia Castle, Auckland (2007) and 90% and Untitled (with John Reynolds), Ramp Gallery, Hamilton (2007). His work has also been represented in: Starkwhite Group Show (2007); DUETS II the abandoned sculpture project, curated by Lauren Winstone, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton (2006); and HEADWAY, New Artists show, curated by Laura Preston and Brian Butler, Artspace, Auckland (2006). Barber is one of thirty New Zealand artists represented in Speculation, a book in a tote bag presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale. He is also a founding member of Gambia Castle, a new art space in Auckland run by a collective of artists and writers.

Located in New Zealand on Auckland's Karangahape Road, Starkwhite presents a programme of artists' projects, solo shows, independently curated exhibitions and occasional forays into new music and other interdisciplinary practices. Starkwhite also represents artists from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific rim.

For further information on the exhibition, or images, please contact the gallery.

Starkwhite
510 Karangahape Road, Auckland, New Zealand
Tel. 64 9 3070703
Monday to Friday: 11.00am to 6.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am to 5.00pm
info@starkwhite.co.nz
www.starkwhite.co.nz