Exploring what is revealed when creative practices are brought into contact, join us for an afternoon floor talk with Ben Buchanan and Martin Basher. Joining the exhibiting artists in this conversation are Ruth Buchanan, current Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa, sister and occasional collaborator with Ben, and Martha Jeffries, writer and producer for film and wife of Martin.
The collision of work by Basher and Buchanan in SOUR GRAPES offers opportunities for shared ideas and concerns to surface. Taking the exhibition as a point of departure this conversation will look at the alchemy relationships can have on artwork and creative practice. Chaired by Claire Mabey.
Martin Basher is a US/NZ painter and sculptor currently living in Wellington. Basher received his BA (2003) and MFA (2008) from Columbia University, New York and holds a Doctorate in Fine Art (2016) from Auckland University. Working with a broad range of materials including aluminum, plexiglass, chipboard and wood, Basher's work plays with the relationships between art display and commercial display, between flatness and form, and between nature and the artificial. Basher has exhibited widely in the US, Europe and Australasia.
Ben Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Atiawa Pākehā) Buchanan’s expansive practice is focussed on “abstraction” and “pattern making” and how these terms are read in a Western and Indigenous sense. His recent works in Sour Grapes represent the culmination of more than 25 years practicing art. A graduate of the MFA programme at Massey university, and Elam School of Fine Arts, Buchanan has exhibited regularly around Aotearoa. This has included contributing to a number of group shows and having many solo exhibitions. Born in New Plymouth he currently lives and works in Wellington.
Ruth Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Atiawa Pākehā) is an artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. She works across exhibition making, writing, design, and teaching. Recent exhibitions include A garden with bridges (spine, stomach, throat, ear), Neue Auftraggeber/Museum Abteiberg; Heute nacht geträumt, Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart; Celebration? Real life, Coastal Signs; The scene in which I find myself / Or, where does my body belong, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery; feminist histories, MASP; Lexicon of Infinite Movement, Kröller Möller Museum. Recent editorial projects include Uneven Bodies (Reader) and www.evacuationtapes.net. In 2018 she was the recipient of the Walters Prize. She is currently Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa.
Martha Jeffries is a director, producer and climate activist. She has filmed in more than 30 countries across 6 continents. Martha translates complex information for wide audiences. She has served as an executive advisor and board member of non profits focused on social justice and climate storytelling and has done extensive work in the climate communication space. She has spoken on climate storytelling at Nexus Global, World Oceans Day, the Explorers Club and The Vatican.
Claire Mabey is a literary programmer and festival maker. With her partner Andrew Laking, she is the director of event company Pirate and Queen, and the founder of Verb Wellington, LitCrawl Wellington and Lōemis. Claire is also a writer, books editor at The Spinoff, book critic at RNZ and co-curator of the writers’ programme at the Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts.
Support City Gallery Wellington in continuing to offer exciting public events with a donation.
