Large Works 2021
Large Works 2021
Laurence Aberhart
Gow Langsford Gallery
Corner of Kitchener and Wellesley Street East
Auckland Central
15 November - 4 December 2021
Dargaville, Mt Wesley Cemetery, Northland, 17 April 2003
Large Works 2021 features new works printed in a monochrome printing process using palladium platinum (known as platinotypes). This process allows a deeper variety of monochromatic tones from the coolest greys to reddish sepia to deep black. Each work takes on different tonal qualities that alter the mood of the image. This body of work reflects three different decades of Aberhart’s practice spanning from the 1980s - 2000s, and encompasses locational subjects familiar to his oeuvre including, Taranaki, Castlecliff, Hawkes Bay, Otago, and Northland.
There is a striking compositional feature that ties this grouping together, which is the apt use of the horizon line stretching across the bottom half of each frame. This technique is called the rule of thirds. Within these works, this creates a predominance of compositional space given to the enduring expanse of the sky. And the skies that Aberhart manages to summon into his frames are mesmerising. We all know that the sky is a place of constant change, constant drama within our life here on earth. It is uncontrollable, inescapable. Aberhart’s photographs capture the skies in a way that transports the viewer to a familiar place of understanding. Despite us never having been there in that very moment, we have all experienced the serene stillness or gusty flurry of the sky. This sparks a connection between the viewer, Aberhart himself, and our shared human experiences of memory, time and place.
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