2020 Musings: An exhibition by Cliff McPherson and Suza Schiele

 

This exciting joint exhibition opens on November 6 at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery in Moir Street at 6pm.

Cliff and Suza are friends who got to know each other when Suza exhibited in Cliff’s galleries in Auckland. They have chosen to mix and mingle their work together, and gamble on the synergies and juxtapositions that might result. Someway down the track the gamble was amplified with the unexpected turn in direction of Cliff’s recent work, adding extra spice to the mix. The success or otherwise of the final curation of this exhibition, beyond the appreciation of the individual works, is for the viewer to decide. “For this exhibition I had envisaged paintings and maybe some 2D constructions, content undecided. I chose to loosen up and find my way by making some paper collages using bits and bobs in my studio that I had collected over the years including many illustrated pages from old medical books. The more I got into what seemed like obsessive prevarication the more I became absorbed in cutting (drawing) and editing (composing), and the more the content led me towards a Covid destination. As a result my exhibition is far from what I imagined it to be from the beginning of the journey.”

The second artist, Suza, shared that she was so lucky to be able to do studio work again after a long illness. She has enjoyed a year of experimentation “pushing my ‘sculpting in paint’ works in heavy impasto and modelling compound further and learning about ceramics, which seemed the perfect medium for my quests.” The artists look forward to welcoming you at the opening or over the fortnight they are exhibiting