Exhibitions » Exhibition Archive » SQUARE2 Archive » Miranda Parkes
Miranda Parkes
7 - 24 November 2011 in the Square² Gallery
A glinting light, refracted off the edge of an ashtray, snags one’s peripheral vision. Upside down poplar trees appear reflected in a pool…in a frying pan. Sparkling Ashtray and Pan of Trees (both 2011) are a pair of new short films by Miranda Parkes, the most recent works in a filmed catalogue of such small moments framed by the artist. At the entrance to the gallery we are for a moment halted by their apparent simplicity, subtly undercut by a coolly spectacular, hypnotic or almost spiritual tone.
These films form a vital sub current in Parkes’ practice. The artist is widely recognised for her large abstract sculptural paintings, vividly coloured, ruched and furrowed canvases which expand baggily from the stretcher frame, flouting conventions and two dimensions of traditional painting. In these film works her work takes a more discrete turn. Reproductions of everyday phenomena—mirrored image and scintillating light effect—take on qualities of a low-rent and low-fi sublime, bordering on the surreal. The act is one of finding and framing; it’s a sleight of hand, at once research and performative gesture.
Miranda Parkes received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 2005. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout New Zealand, including Smasher, Antoinette Godkin Gallery, Auckland (2011); Cracker, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch (2010); Surface Tension, Tauranga Art Gallery (2010); Telecom Prospect: New Art New Zealand, City Gallery Wellington (2007); Hummer, Crasher, Groover, Slacker (2006) and Throw Your Arms Around Me Baby, 64zero3, Christchurch (2005). Parkes held the William Hodges Artist Residence at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in Invercargill (2006) and the Tylee Cottage Artist Residency in Whanganui (2009).
Miranda Parkes
Pan of Trees and Sparkling Ashtray 2011
Digital files
Duration: 5:09 and 3:38mins respectively, looped
Courtesy of the artist
This is the final work in 'Tidelines', a 16 week series of short video works linked by the idea of tidal currents, the waterline and the navigation of history and everyday daily realities.