Radio with Pictures

28 April - 27 May 2007 in the Hirschfeld Gallery

‘Radio with Pictures’ presents a selection of recent music videos and album cover designs by artists, designers, directors and musicians with a connection to Wellington.

The exhibition has been compiled much like another popular musical form; that of the mix tape. It is a personal selection of favourites, bringing together the work of musicians who practice across a diverse breadth of musical genres. While the primary purpose of both album covers and music videos is the marketing and promotion of the musician in order to increase record sales, ‘Radio with Pictures’ explores the potential of these forms as places where ideas can be formulated and experimented with and collaborations played out.

Sam Broad, born in 1973, is a self-taught Wellington artist who specialises in printmaking, painting and automata. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Dowse Art Gallery, Lower Hutt; Pataka, Porirua and the Whangarei Art Museum. Broad has also held solo exhibitions in Wellington, Nelson and Auckland.

Luke Buda was born in Wroclaw, Poland in 1979. After moving to New Zealand in 1987, he became one of the founding members of The Phoenix Foundation, formed in 1997. In 2002 Buda released a mini-album Buda—The C-Sides, which was re-released last year by Slow Boat Records. Luke Buda’s follow-up solo album Special Surprise was released in 2006 and he was nominated for Best Vocalist at the B-net music awards, 2006. He lives in Kelburn, Wellington.

Daniel Campion is a Wellington-based artist. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and has appeared in group exhibition Final Product: Drawing as the final product, Expressions, Upper Hutt, 2005 and recently had solo exhibitions A fabricated urban response, Aaron Laurence Gallery, Wellington, 2006 and A Binary Affair, Seachel Gallery, Nelson, 2007.

Shortly after forming in 2000, Cassette released their EMO EP to much acclaim, followed in 2006 with the release of their first album Cut for summer, which was ranked by music reviewer Nick Bollinger among the best albums of last year. Cassette has toured Australasia extensively and in 2004 gained the coveted position of support act for Sonic Youth’s Sonic Nurse tour. The band comprises of Thom Watson, Paul Trigg (Melbourne-based) and Craig Terris (Wellington-based). Cassette are currently working on their second album.

Charlie Ash is comprised of Rosie Riggir, Mailee Mathews, Matt Brightwell and Dave Prendergast. The band formed in Wellington just over three years ago and their musical/performance style has been described as punk-rave-theatre-clash. Charlie Ash supported Chicks on Speed and The Slits on their recent New Zealand tours. At the beginning of 2007 Charlie Ash released their debut album Can Can, which has received rave reviews. The band recently relocated to Auckland.

Louise Clifton was born in Christchurch in 1979. She graduated with a Bachelor of Design (Photography) at Massey University Wellington in 2004. Clifton has exhibited at Show and Bartley Nees Gallery in Wellington, and at Artspace and Canary Gallery in Auckland. She will have a solo exhibition at Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington in May 2007. Clifton recently moved to live in Oamaru.

Band members Connan Tant Hosford, Seamus Ebbs and Ross Walker make up Connan and the Mockasins, started in Wellington in 2004. Shortly after forming the band released their Naughty Holidays EP which had soon sold out. This was followed by the release of their mini-album Uuu it’s teasy in 2006. Wellington-based musician, graphics designer and animator Blain Hosford has worked with the band to design their website and mini-album cover. Connan and the Mocksins moved to London in 2006 where they have gained instant and widespread popularity.

Cortina is a Wellington art band duo, currently comprising of artist/musicians Bek Coogan and Matt Hunt (aka Ace Hurt). Cortina play an eclectic mix of performance art, punk, death metal, new wave and dance music, which has gained them a cult following for their unpredictable live performances. The band has played at the Big Day Out and with international sound artist, Bob Log. In late 2005 Cortina self-released their first EP Control Freaks Rule the World. Cortina had an exhibition at HSP, Christchurch, 2005 and performed as part of Break: Construct, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 2006/07.The band has toured extensively throughout New Zealand, America and Europe.

DISASTERADIO is a band consisting of Luke Rowell, born in 1983 and computer. They both enjoy creating danceable synthesizer music, which explores the whole of the electronic music continuum from experimental to pop. To date they have performed over 120 live performances and have five CDR releases, one CD proper through A LOW HUM magazine and a cassette through the Stink Magnetic label. VISIONS, the sixth album is set for release in the second half of 2007 through A LOW HUM.

James Findlater was born in Wellington in 1982. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Film Studies from Victoria University of Wellington in 2004. Findlater currently works as a graphic designer and illustrator in Wellington.

A. Bryce Galloway was born in Hamilton in 1966. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts, both from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University. He has had a solo exhibition Mumbling through to the Chorus, The Engine Room, Wellington, 2007 and has been included in group exhibitions High Chair, St. Paul St. gallery, AUT Auckland, 2005 and performed Night of the Nick Cave Concert as part of the Enjoy Public Art Gallery Performance Week, Wellington, 2005. Galloway has been producing a quarterly fanzine ‘Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People’ since 2002.

Joe Garlick graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Design in 2002 and worked as a freelance designer until 2004. Garlick was nominated for a 2005 B-net design award for Fly My Pretties—Live At Bats. Garlick collaborated with Emma Smith (photography) and Rosie Roggir (art direction) in the design of Charlie Ash’s Can Can album cover design.

Ghostplane, playing in their current line-up since 2003, is a Wellington-based band comprising Achilles Botes, Mark Dryburgh, Ash Harmer, Andrew Grayson and Mike Scudder. Their debut EP The Panther Valley Country Club was released in 2004, shortly followed by the release of their full length album Beneath the Sleepy Lagoon in 2005, described by music reviewer Simon Sweetman as one of the albums of the year. Ghostplane have cemented a reputation as an excellent and unique live band; playing shows with compatible acts like Calexico, Lambchop, The Phoenix Foundation, SJD, Dimmer, Fang, Cassette, the Pretenders and others.

Sam Handley was born in Napier in 1979. He has directed several music videos and has a respect for music and art.

Installation and video artist Mike Heynes was born in Wellington in 1971. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Theatre and Film Studies from Victoria University of Wellington in 1997. He had a solo exhibition SCHLOCK! HORROR! Death of a B-Movie Empire, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, 2005 and was included in a group exhibition in the Fringe Festival, Cakes of the 20th Century at the Newtown Bowling Club in 2007.

Ian Jorgensen (better known as Blink) is a prolific music video maker. He has made almost 50 music videos, all of which are made without the band’s knowledge. Rather than a commercial interest, Blink’s favourite part of the process is contacting the band and letting them know that he has made a video for them. Both videos by Blink in this exhibition are part of his fascination with the desire to match music and imagery to a beat coincidentally. The video for ‘Straight and Narrow’ (Ghostplane) was shot at Melbourne Zoo when Blink saw an older couple dancing to a jazz band and noticed other ‘mini-stories’ happening around them. He filmed the action in one take and went home and listened to a few songs and found one that was a similar tempo.

The video for Signer’s ‘I was dressed as an Ant, you dressed as a Beehive’ was actually turned down by three other bands who I first showed it to (who are probably kicking themselves as the video went on to be playlisted on MTV Europe). The footage sat on my computer for over a year before I noticed the deterioration of one of the clips, I went through all the original digitized footage and looked for clips that had deteriorated the same way over time and then looked through my favourite artists for song that had a similar beat. I found this in Signer. Again, it looks as if I have spent hours labouring over editing beat-matching the shakes, but it is purely coincidental.

Jonny Koefed was born in Wellington in 1975. He works as Head of Motion and Design, at production company Oktobor, now based in Auckland. Koefed has worked primarily on television commercials for the last eight years and gained numerous awards out of New Zealand and internationally including a gold award at the Axis awards, being short listed for the Cannes Lions awards and Type Directors Club Medal. Koefed enjoys working on design based and music projects over traditional shoots.

Campbell Kneale is a Lower Hutt-based artist and musician who performs variously under the names of Birchville Cat Motel, Black Boned Angel, Ming, and others. Kneale also runs an underground noise label Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, which produces trademark screen printed CDs and packaging. Kneale had a solo exhibition HUM DRUM, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, 2005 and was winner of the 2005 Vodafone digital art award for his work McCahonoid2004.

Lissa Mitchell was born in Invercargill in 1970. She is a moving image artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries and festivals in New Zealand and internationally including: Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington; City Gallery Wellington; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; The Physics Room, Christchurch; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, NZ Film Archive, and festivals in Brazil and Germany.

MarineVille are a Wellington rock group founded in 1999. They have released two albums Ready for the Dance (Oak Park Records, 2001) and Diving the Wreck (Involve Records, 2005) and have spent the past 18 months working towards album number three. Ironically, ‘Lets Build A House’ was filmed in a warehouse in Oak Park Avenue which doubled as home, rehearsal and recording space before it was demolished in 2005 for the inner city bypass. The idea for the video was hatched by band members David Hall and Mark Williams from the 'write about what you know' philosophy which in this case equated to getting all their friends drunk on a free keg of beer and filming them acting like idiots. The video was filmed, directed and edited by Lissa Mitchell.

Mëstar formed in Dunedin, in 1996 and comprises of John White, Stef Animal and Ian Wilson. In 1998 the trio released their first album titled Mëstar, which received three B-net award nominations for Best Rock/Pop Release, Best New Act and Best Indie Release. The band has since released the Steamer EP (2000) and Porcupine, (2002). In 2005 the members of Mëstar moved to Wellington and the band re-formed to release Shut the squizwot factories down, 2006. In addition to writing and performing music, band member John White has produced several music videos for the group and designed the cover of their latest album.


James Milne, born in Christchurch in 1981, was a recent finalist for New Zealand's premiere song writing award, the APRA Silver Scroll Award for Song of the Year. Milne had two album releases in May 2006 with Dance Reduction Agents the first album by his band The Reduction Agents, and his debut solo album Lawrence Arabia, both met with immediate critical acclaim. Simon Sweetman noted in Real Groove Magazine that: 'Lawrence Arabia just might be New Zealand's greatest modern songwriter'. In late 2006 Milne moved to London to live.

Sarah Jane Parton was born in Lower Hutt in 1980. She is a Wellington-based artist who studied at the School of Fine Arts, Massey University Wellington, graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in time-based art. A work of Parton's featured in Telecom Prospect 2004: New Art New Zealand and her most recent solo exhibition Guidance opened at the Physics Room, Christchurch in April 2007. She lives in Kelburn, Wellington.

Age Pryor is a Wellington based singer and songwriter. He has recently released his third album Shanks Pony. Age Pryor contributed music to the soundtrack of Taika Waititi's feature film Eagle vs. Shark and soundscapes for the NZ Film Archive installation No Wallflowers by Georgina White. He is co-founder of The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and was also a member of the music ensemble collaboration Fly My Pretties and The Return of Fly My Pretties. Pryor has also worked as effects editor with sound designer Tim Prebble on the feature films No.2, Black Sheep and television drama The Lost Children.

Pryor’s music video for ‘Leave it all behind’ required the skill and assistance of the following people: Julian Bryant (co-Director / compositor), Nick Marrison (co-Director / 3D cameras), Jessica Cowley (co-Director / digital textures), Brian Van't Hul (director of photography), Cameron Smithers (3D TD), Dave Hampton (playback and digital assistant), Fiona Campbell (1st Assistant Director), Huw Griffith (grip), Jacqui Pryor (catering), Jake Lee (3D TD), Katie Hecker (compositor), Kylie Anderson (make up), Lucas Putnam (digital assistant and editing), Mel James (digital textures), Malcolm Angell (3D cameras and survey), Get-a-grip (equipment), Panavision (use of studio), MLA (lighting equipment), Haining St (3D rendering). The video took over a year to complete, with everyone working in their spare time.

Bevan Smith was born in New Plymouth in 1974. He performs under the names Signer and Aspen. Bevan is a composer, songwriter, producer and sound designer. He will release six albums this year.

Sally Tran was born in Hastings in 1982. She has a Diploma in Fashion Design and Technology from Massey University. Tran runs fashion label Ish and has worked on productions such as Fly My Pretties as well as doing costuming for television. The video for Charlie Ash’s ‘O Baby’ was Tran’s first attempt at music video directing and it won first prize in the 2006 Handle the Jandal music video competition.

Luke Savage is an Auckland-based director who currently works for production company flying fish. He has a diverse range of expertise including visual effects, stop motion animation and working with miniatures. Savage has directed several television commercials and music videos for bands including The Phoenix Foundation and The Bleeders.

Samuel Flynn Scott is a Wellington based musician who performs in the band The Phoenix Foundation. In 2006 he released a solo album The Hunt Brings Us Life which received excellent reviews and from which the single ‘War over Water’ was nominated for best pop song at the B-net awards. Scott has also made music for television, theatre and film, including editing and composing music for the soundtrack of the upcoming feature film Eagle vs. Shark directed by Taika Waititi. He lives in Island Bay, Wellington.

Rhian Sheehan is a Wellington-based electronica musician. His debut album ‘Paradigm Shift' (2001) was nominated in the best electronica category at both the 2002 NZ Music Awards and B-net Awards. Lately Sheehan has been busy working on his next album, due for release in late 2007. He recently spent three months in India, recording and performing and collaborating with Raashi Malik on her debut album. Sheehan has also worked on music and sound design for film and television as well as being a co-collaborator in Wellington synth-pop band The Blush Response.

The Phoenix Foundation was formed in 1997 and comprises of musicians Samuel Flynn Scott, Luke Buda, Conrad Wedde, Richie Singleton, Warner Emery and Will Ricketts. The band has released two albums in New Zealand so far; Horsepower (2003) and Pegasus (2005) with a new album due for release in late 2007. The Phoenix Foundation have received several New Zealand music awards including Best Unreleased Track for ‘Hitchcock’ and Best Pop Song for ‘Damn the River’ at the B-net awards. In 2005 Pegasus was nominated for Album of the year at the Tui music awards. In 2007 the band will be touring America to coincide with the release of Horsepower there.

Ned Wenlock is a Wellington-based graphic designer and animator. He has directed music videos for bands Twinset and Ghostplane and won the award for Best Concept for his direction of 'Theme to Scorpio's Nest' for Raw Sugar at the 2005 Handle the Jandal music awards. Rollo Wenlock is a London-based motion graphic designer. He produced the title sequence for television programme Front seat and co-directed the music video for ‘Girls’ by the Prodigy.

Jessica Reid
Michael Hirschfeld Gallery Curator