Renowned New Zealand artist Elizabeth Thomson will launch her new exhibition at Eastern Southland Gallery, Gore, tomorrow evening. 

The Wellington-based sculptor / installation artist has been drawn to areas of scientific knowledge such as botany, micro-biology, oceanography and mathematics for more than 30 years. 

"With images and concepts from those fields as her starting point, her works take flight," says gallery curator Gregory O’Brien.

Advertisement: Laser Electrical Gore

"They impart a sense of mystery, beauty and the sheer exhilaration of being alive in a universe which is itself living, sentient and ever-responsive.  

Thomson and O'Brien will present a Floor Talk at the Gallery on Friday, 11 June, at 6pm. 

This is an opportunity to meet the artist and curator and hear first-hand about the themes explored in the exhibition, titled Cellular Memory. The exhibition is at the gallery from 12 June to 1 August.

Elizabeth Thompson

"The works in ‘Cellular Memory’ attest to a career-long commitment to grappling with both natural history and the human condition, fuelled by poetic imagination as well as by much research, field-work and long hours in the studio," O'Brien says. 

"The result is a body of work which asks some fundamental questions: How does humanity fit within the broader realm of nature? To what extent are we a part of, or distinct from, our environment? And how might the human imagination engage with the field of scientific knowledge?"

O'Brien says the works are "alluring and at times a little disconcerting", constantly return to the notion of ‘strangeness and beauty’ which lies at the heart of the Romantic tradition. 

"Echoing 20th century abstract art and French Surrealism, her works incorporate photographic source materials as well as techniques drawn from the fields of painting, sculpture, craft traditions and practical science."

Elizabeth Thomson's My Titirangi Years – not sure about the neighbours, 2019

Born in Auckland in 1955, Thomson is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading artists. 

Since graduating with an MFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 1988, her work has been exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and abroad. 

A major survey exhibition, ‘My hi-fi my sci-fi’ opened at City Gallery Wellington in 2006 then toured nationally. Alongside the work of Len Lye, her art featured in the major two-person exhibition, ‘Waking up slowly’, at the Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth, in 2019. 

Advertisement: Howl at the Moon

Based in Wellington since 1991, where she lives with her husband and artistic collaborator Warwick Hadwen, Thomson works in a converted factory in the suburb of Newtown. Her installations, sculptures and prints are included in major public collections throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, Elizabeth Thomson—Cellular Memory, with texts by Gregory O’Brien, Lloyd Jones and Jenny Bornholdt.

"In Elizabeth Thomson’s art we recognise not only the beginnings of life in microscopic, cellular structures but also the pulse of energy through water, the patterning of wind on sand and the cycles of growth and decay that characterise all life on our planet," O'Brien says. 

Advertisement: Donald Buckley Photo & Frame

"In these meditative, beguiling, vital works, we begin to sense the curious intelligence and sensibility of our world—the many-layered environment of which we are a part."

The gallery's usual hours are Monday to Friday 10am-4.30pm, weekends 1-4pm. Admission is free to both the Floor Talk and gallery, and all are welcome.