Local artist exhibits in outdoor frame
Kare Grayson and her painting which graces the exterior wall of MONZA Gallery. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Kare Grayson’s work, Forest For The Trees, is the latest to be exhibited in the outdoor frame on the wall of MONZA Gallery.
Chris Finlayson set up the exhibition space to enhance Takaka’s urban environment by attracting works from the Bay’s artists, and to set up a kind of dialogue between artists and the public.
Kare’s painting was inspired by a walk she took at Milnthorpe.
“I was looking really closely at the gum trees there,” she said. “And I noticed that their mottled bark made them look as though they were wearing camouflage. I wondered what they might be trying to hide themselves from and I imagined it would be loggers coming to cut them down.
“That started me thinking about the number of species that are endangered or extinct already as a result of human industry. The Tin Man in my painting represents the unfeeling, industrial side of things and I’ve put myself in there too, as a more sympathetic presence. I’m facing directly outwards, as if I’m asking a question of the viewer. The question might be: ‘Are we endangered too?’ The skeletons are all New Zealand species that are now extinct.”
In 2006, Kare graduated from the Otago Polytech School of Fine Arts with a Master’s degree. She said that her seven years of study fundamentally changed the way she thought.
“My tutor was Clive Humphries. He’s a painter and screen-printer and he had a big influence on my style. He added a layer of realism and helped me make my paintings more narrative. Before that I was doing designs using more flat colour.”
Kare is working in a shared studio at the Golden Bay Work Centre and whenever she is there, she is happy for members of the public to drop by and have a look. She produces both 2D and 3D art and is happy to work on commissions.
“I’ve done quite a few smaller-scale portraits,” said Kare. “Forest For The Trees is by far the biggest work I’ve produced. It was a massive undertaking.”
Neil Wilson
