New Zealand listener, 26 Apr 2014 ___ In 1984 the first person died from an Aids related condition in New Zealand. Homosexuality was illegal. It would be another two years before the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was passed in 1986. Condoms were still primarily associated with the prevention of pregnancy; […]
Megan Dunn
68 posts
NZ Listener, 23 August, 2014 ___ “My earliest memories are of growing up on a dairy farm in Takanini, just south of Auckland. One of my earliest memories is my father sawing horns off some cows; my father trapping hawks in a gin trap to protect the ducks on the […]
Off the Wall, Arts Te Papa, 2014 ___ The weave of the burlap is coarse as corduroy. The sun is boiling brown, surrounded by a white ring. The circle is the shape that completes this composition: the two gourd-like heads of Adam and Eve, their unequal eyes. Eve has blue […]
Art News, Autumn 2014 ___ “I think it’s about worry,” Nick Austin paused. “I think it’s about bad news.” Austin held the microphone at a right angle. “I think it’s about worrying about bad news.” Austin looked at his painting of a shark fin, inside the window of an envelope. […]
NZ Books, Issue 105, Autumn 2014 ___ Lateral Inversions: The Prints of Barry Cleavin contains over 120 colour plates and is a beautifully produced book that affords serious consideration to Barry Cleavin’s artwork. In the introduction author Dr. Melinda Johnston foregrounds Cleavin’s status as a major printmaker within New Zealand, […]
Circuit, January 31, 2014 ___ Smoke exhales from a pair of matte pink pipes; a young woman sways against a white washed background, the soft caw of seagulls rising. Last year Yvonne Todd produced two hypnotic moving image works. Smoke Emitters debuted at Sydney Contemporary in September and Denim Seagull […]
Art + Object August 2013 Catalogue ___ Derek’s expression is dour. His brow deep set, the tip of his long nose snubbed. His eyes are minute, his clay lips pursed in a miserly pout. His face emerges from the form of a gigantic clay bag, bulky and rough-hewn, the surface indented […]
Eyecontact, 24 April 2013 ___ “If worries were things, like worms for example, I expect they would burrow right into you.” Let me begin by congratulating Christina Read on the least pretentious artist statement I have seen in some time. Artist statements are often riddled with pseudo-scientific vernacular; a hangover […]
NZ Listener, Issue 3795, 24 January, 2013 ___ Quiet is usually a form of faint praise when used as an adjective in the arts. Desk Collection is a survey of seventeen years of Saskia Leek’s practice and yes it is a quiet exhibition, but there within of course lies its […]
Fishhead Magazine, December 2012 ___ It’s evening. A veil of mist has shrouded the sea. Outside, rain is falling so faintly it is almost invisible, almost but not quite. I can see the strings. A fantail alights on the black licorice telegraph wires outside my window and spreads its unwelcome […]
Eyecontact, 24 August, 2012 ___ Reading Room is an exhibition with plenty of character. Look through the window of Objectspace today and you will see the rubble of a bookcase, lined with books, face out and spine on. A low-lying table is scattered with more titles, some splayed open, others […]
NZ Listener, 12 July, 2012 ___ Multidisciplinary artist Sharmila Samant has been in the country for four days when I call her to discuss the socially based artwork she will develop in the New Plymouth community. Our conversation quickly turns to the availability of water. “The thing about water is […]