Courtesy: the artist and Page Galleries, Wellington.

Light, paint, and water coalesce in Turumeke Harrrington’s solo exhibition (Tīkaro) Slowly Dawning.

A suite of jelly-coloured light works feature cut-out motifs of tuna (eel), hare, tī kōuka (cabbage tree), and whetū (star). The frosted acrylic lights appear almost as zoetropes or early animation wheels, lending the creatures a sense of implied movement. Tīkaro – to pick, scoop, tear or gouge out – alludes most literally to the technical process of creating these works, but also speaks to Harrington’s propensity to keep prodding and poking at objects, forms, and materials, endlessly playing with, and playing out concepts until a new idea dawns, swiftly followed by another, and another.

Alongside the twelve coloured lights are a series of corresponding watercolours depicting tī kōuka, their warm hues pulled from the shifting palette of the sky. In contrast to the highly polished industrially manufactured lights, these delicate works on paper reveal something charmingly intimate about the repetitive and meditative act of making, with the artist’s hand, and her delight in the process immediately evident.

Opening: Thursday 21 April 5-7pm

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