The Secret Life of Plants

24 March - 22 April 2007 in the Hirschfeld Gallery

The introduction to The Secret Life of Plants (1973)—from which this exhibition takes its title—describes the book as ‘a fascinating account of the physical, emotional, and spiritual relations between plants and man.’ With chapter headings such as ‘Plants can read your mind’ the book positions our relationship with nature as symbiotic and spiritual. Whether or not you buy into the fanciful notions presented in this book, the pervasive existence of plants in our day to day lives is undeniable. The artists in The Secret Life of Plants critique the ‘naturalness’ of the floral and faunal imagery which pervades everyday life, subtly transforming the familiar into the strange.

Catherine Bagnall and Julian Bishop’s video work Nightwalking the Rockburn (2005) was inspired by the native bush of Fiordland. Their sculpture Rocking Table complements the video, its ornate embroidery references the video’s setting and it is the sound of it rocking which resonates through the video.

Courtney Lucas’s bright and seductive photograph Cave (2006) evokes a sense of uncanny unrest. This photograph, taken in Wanganui’s indoor Winter Gardens, depicts a ferrocrete tunnel; a structure common to many public gardens. It is an everyday scene abstracted from its usual context, rendering it odd and compelling.

Regan Gentry’s work Oh dear (2006) was conceived as part of a four month artist residency, the William Hodges fellowship, furthering his investigation into the material and associative qualities of gorse plants. His mounted antlers are made entirely from gorse wood. Gentry’s entire series of gorse based works will be exhibited at the New Dowse later this year.

Bruce Phillips’ delicate watercolour drawings depict plants sprouting forth from techno-gadgets. In one we see an opium poppy, and in the other ‘magic’ mushrooms, which can be processed into a hallucinogen. These works question the common assumption that ‘nature’ and ‘natural’ products are benign entities, bringing to mind the negative impact, both physically and socially, the chemicals in these plants can have.

Justine Walker is interested in idealised forms of beauty. In Phalaenopsis, Hybrid, City Girl 3 (2006) Walker has photographed in crisp and acute detail an extreme close-up of an orchid. Drawing on the history and reputation of orchids as being difficult to grow and therefore highly prized as symbols of perfection, Walker has undermined this by choosing an artificial and mass-produced version. By making the photograph an edition of one, Walker turns the mass-produced item back into a unique object.

Walker’s untitled (butterfly) (2006) is another surreally enlarged object. Like flowers, butterflies have been historically used to represent fragility, beauty and transience. Replicating a child’s model it too evokes the uncanny.

Jessica Reid
Michael Hirschfeld Gallery Curator