Courtesy: the artist and Starkwhite, Queenstown.

Starkwhite Queenstown presents an exhibition of work by John Reynolds. With a distinctive style that frequently muddles the logics of drawing, mark-making, and language, Reynolds’ interdisciplinary practice spans painting, installation, and sculpture.

The title of his Starkwhite exhibition references the opening line of a haiku by Issa, regarded as one of the four Grand masters of Japanese haiku. The artist describes his new body of large paintings accompanied by small block works as “moonlighting on floral themes of passing time, blue lunar cycles, and the pungency and maddening beauty of our fleeting world.”

Reynolds was the recipient of a Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi in 2006 and has been a finalist in New Zealand’s prestigious Walters Prize. He was the focus of Shirley Horrock’s documentary Questions for Mr Reynolds. Reynolds has created several site-specific outdoor works including Snow Tussock and Golden Spaniard in East Otago; BIG WAVE TERRITORY, commissioned by New Plymouth’s Art in Public Places Trust; and One Hundred and Eighty-Nine Steps, Freyberg Place (with Isthmus Group), commissioned by the Auckland City Council.

Follow this artist