Vincent Ward Born in a caul 2011 (detail). Photograph, pigment inks on archival paper. Courtesy the artist
An exhibition of contemporary art work by renowned New Zealand filmmaker Vincent Ward opens at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in December.
Vincent Ward’s memorable filmic work has long offered a powerful and unique contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand’s visual experience.
This new exhibition Breath – the fleeting intensity of life draws together Ward’s career as a feature filmmaker and his early training in fine arts. His recent exploration of the still image presents works that coalesce photography, painting and digital imaging alongside filmic vignettes and sound.
Ward’s ongoing concerns with metamorphosis, light, darkness and immersive experience has led him to create a series of physically imposing works that delve into otherworldly landscapes and transcendent states, seeking elusive ‘transformational moments’ that connect with the human psyche.
Presented from 10 December 2011 to 26 February 2012, this exhibition is the first survey of filmmaker Vincent Ward’s work within an art museum context. A publication with a commissioned essay by novelist Louis Nowra will accompany the exhibition.
Vincent Ward is a filmmaker and painter who developed a unique aesthetic language for a ‘motion painting’ technique that won an academy award in 1999 for its application in the film What Dreams May Come. Ward originally trained as a painter, graduating with honours in Fine Arts from the University of Canterbury in 1980. It was through painting that he initially found his way into filmmaking.
His films have seen recognition at both the Academy Awards and the Cannes Film Festival and have repeatedly received acclaim for their strong iconic imagery. The Boston Globe has called Ward ‘one of films great image-makers’.
Ward says his films have been a starting point for fresh exploration in his new mixed media work.
“Somewhere between the world of motion, film and painting I am currently working to find an alchemical marriage between these different media,” Ward says.
“The exhibition conveys the concept of ‘wehi’, where fear and awe collide. It is a celebration of life’s intensity,” he says.
Curator and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Director Rhana Devenport says Vincent Ward has a strong association with Taranaki through his films Vigil and The River Queen and his executive producer role on the film The Last Samurai, so it is appropriate that his first contemporary art exhibition is held in the region.
“Vincent Ward has evolved a powerful and haunting emotional and visual register within filmic worlds. His recent explorations with still images delve deeply into his abiding concerns with transcendence and acute moments of loss and discovery. This exhibition also presents an orchestrated installation of moving image and sound, distillations and meditations drawn from his own filmic language,” Ms Devenport says.
The exhibition coincides with the publication of a new book Making The Transformational Moment in Film – Unleashing the Power of the Image (with the films of Vincent Ward). Written by Dan Fleming, it will be released worldwide by Michael Wiese Books, a US publisher specialising in books for filmmakers and screenwriters.
Ward will later present his works at Auckland’s Gus Fisher Gallery and TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre in Pah Homestead from July 2012.
Also presented at the Govett-Brewster from 10 December 2011 to 26 February 2012 is Old Genes: Artists reading Len Lye, curated by Tyler Cann, Len Lye Curator at Large.
With artists Phil Dadson, Tessa Laird, Dane Mitchell, Andy Thomson and Daniel von Sturmer, this exhibition presents a fresh look at the importance of Len Lye within contemporary New Zealand art.
Image: Vincent Ward Born in a Caul 2011. Courtesy the artist and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
ENDS
Notes for Editors
Vincent Ward
Writer (published works):
- The Past Awaits: people, images, film (Craig Potton Publishing, 2010)
- Edge of the Earth: Stories and Images from the Antipodes (Heinemann Reed, 1990)
- The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey. Screenplay (Faber and Faber: 1989)
Executive Producer:
The Last Samurai (2003)
Producer:
Rain of the Children (2008) (senior producer)
Map of the Human Heart (1993) (producer)
In Spring One Plants Alone (1981) (producer)
Film Director:
Rain of the Children (2008)
River Queen (2005)
What Dreams May Come (1998)
Map of the Human Heart (1993)
The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (1988)
Vigil (1984)
In Spring One Plants Alone (1981)
A State of Siege (1978)
Writer:
Rain of the Children (2008) (screenplay)
River Queen (2005) (screenplay) (story)
Map of the Human Heart (1993) (story)
The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (1988)
Alien 3 (story)
Vigil (1984) (screenplay)
A State of Siege (1978)
For more information, high resolution images and to arrange interviews please contact:
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Rhana Devenport
Director
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
+64 6 759 0850
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Kelly Loney
Communications Coordinator
Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
+64 6 759 6717
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