John Reynolds: WORKS END
26 May - 21 June 2008

Starkwhite is pleased to present WORKS END by guest artist John Reynolds, from 26 May to 21 June 2008.

Reynolds has established a reputation as a painter who employs aspects of drawing (sketches, plans, charts, doodles) and different types of representation (expressive marks, symbols, patterns, writing) for poetic effect. But there are many strands to his practice, including sculpture and, more recently, large-scale outdoor works. Over the past three years Reynolds has made two large works - Snow Tussock and Golden Spaniard - for a park in New Zealand's East Otago region. Using two species of native plants under threat in the area, along with some earth working, he has created unnatural stagings of natural phenomena and, as he says, "New Zealand's slowest art works". These were followed by Cordyline, a formal planting of New Zealand's ubiquitous 'cabbage tree' at Allan Gibbs' park on the Kaipara Harbour.

With WORKS END, Reynolds co-opts the format, materials and production processes of Transit New Zealand. His 5m x 3.4m freestanding sculpture of aluminum panels attached to a stainless steel frame uses the vernacular of roadside signage. The text on the coloured panels is lifted from the New Zealand Book of Lists and presents the titles of the 10 highest priced paintings sold at auction between 1988 and 2007. In descending order works by Colin McCahon, Frances Hodgkins, Gordon Walters, Nicholas Chevalier, and Ralph Hotere comprise the sign's highly reflective litany. Reynolds takes a slice of art market history and makes it over, incorporating it into his own practice - one that seeks not to direct, but rather to willfully misdirect the viewer.

John Reynolds lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand and is represented by the Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland and the Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington. Representation in recent events and group exhibitions includes: John Reynolds: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, a collaboration between the artist and actor/director Geraldine Brophy, Christchurch Art Gallery (2008); Zones of Conflict, 15th Biennale of Sydney (his work Cloud was commissioned for the entrance hall of the Art Gallery of New South Wales), curated by Charles Merewether (2006); 54321: Auckland Artists Projects, curated by Ngahiraka Mason, Auckland Art Gallery (2006); Nine Lives: The Chartwell Collection, curated by Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery (2003); HEVN: NOT TO SCALE, curated by Sophie McIntyre, Adam Gallery Victoria University, Wellington (2002): and From K Road to Kingdom Come, curated by Gregory Burke and Robert Leonard, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2001). Reynolds is the recipient of a Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand and one of four artists selected to re-stage a project in the 2008 Walters Prize exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery.

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
PO Box 90897 AMC
Tel. 64 9 3070703
Monday to Friday: 11.00am to 6.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am to 5.00pm
starkwhite@starkwhite.co.nz
www.starkwhite.co.nz