The Government Stroke
The Government Stroke
Emil McAvoy
Northart Gallery
Norman King Square, Ernie Mays Street
Northcote Central, Auckland
9 – 22 April 2023
The Government Stroke repositions representations of the nation state and its agents in Aotearoa as contemporary art, re-examining the construction of Brand New Zealand, national identities, and the public imagination.
Bringing together a selection of key works by Emil McAvoy for the first time, this concept-led mini-survey exhibition features abstract paintings alongside state-commissioned photographs from the National Publicity Studios never intended for publication. Collectively, they offer a playfully critical take on past and present official government communications, and their ongoing power to shape personal and collective psychologies.
The Government Stroke revels in the ambivalent spaces between art, archive, documentary and propaganda.
Image: Restored unpublished photograph from the National Publicity Studios, courtesy of the artist.
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