25 February 2023
City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi proudly present TheOnlyDreamLeft,the largest exhibition to date of the work of renowned New Zealand artist Reuben Paterson (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi). Spanning 25 years, visitors will experience the astonishing range of Paterson’s work, including painting, sculpture, installation, and animation.
This major exhibition includes new works alongside lesser known and celebrated pieces drawn from collections of major public galleries across Aotearoa. Known for his range of kaleidoscopic colours, forms and effects created through his signature material of glitter, Paterson visually seduces the viewer, before exploring more complex issues and tensions.
Paterson’s work explores the clash of bodies, desires, cultures, spirituality and sexuality. With a focus on the dynamics of queer identity, Paterson’s work is also grounded in his whakapapa and Te Ao Māori.
The exhibition includes a new sculpture which is set in a call-and-response relationship with Paterson’s GuideKaiārahi– a 10-metre high glass and crystal waka installed on the forecourt of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2021 to great acclaim.
For the first time, audiences in Te Whanganui-a-Tara will be able to gather beneath and experience The Golden Bearing, a four-and-a-half metre tall gold-glittered tree which originally stood in Ngāmotu New Plymouth’s botanical gardens. This will also be the first time this beloved sculpture will be exhibited alongside Paterson’s other works.
Reuben Paterson said we are now living in a time where the encounters and experiences that inspire his practice can truly be heard like never before.
“I believe much of the work I have created over the past 25 years is finally being understood and accepted – perhaps even for the first time.
“This exhibition has become a space to proclaim my voice, and I am so very excited to be able to share and introduce my artistic journey and the ideas, encounters and experiences that have inspired me over the years.”
Senior Curator Aaron Lister said that he and his co-curator Karl Chitham have worked with Paterson to create a playground-like environment rather than a static exhibition.
“It establishes a series of encounters and provocations between and across his works” he said.
“This lets older work reappear in different and newly charged ways, often through being placed in conversation with new works. It allows the exhibition to look back, yet also reveal the bold new directions in Paterson’s art.”
“TheOnlyDreamLeftoffers visitors a rare opportunity to experience the breadth and scope of Paterson’s work. It reveals the immense contribution he has made to art and culture within Aotearoa over the last twenty-five years. This exhibition makes viewers look at everything afresh, which is one of the powers of Reuben’s work.”
The exhibition is curated by Aaron Lister and Karl Chitham, Director of the Dowse Art Museum, and will be on display at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi from 25 February–18 June 2023.
https://citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/reuben-paterson-the-only-dream-left/