Celebrated Auckland and Christchurch Artists Chosen for 2009 Venice Biennale

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Two New Zealand artists - Judy Millar from Auckland and Francis Upritchard from Christchurch - will represent New Zealand in a six month exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale - widely recognised as the most significant event on the international visual arts calendar.

Chair of Creative New Zealand's Arts Council Alastair Carruthers says "the decision to send two artists shows a strong commitment to the success of New Zealand visual arts overseas. It will be an important project for arts patrons, the visual arts community and the Arts Council to invest in together."

"A well respected practitioner and senior lecturer at Elam School of Fine Arts, Judy Millar is considered one of New Zealand's foremost painters", said Mr Carruthers. Her concept for Venice is "strong, bold and exciting".

Francis Upritchard has also presented a "compelling" project and Mr Carruthers described her as "a young rising star in the art world".

"Both are talented, outstanding artists and will represent the arts sector and New Zealand exceptionally well. This decision is enthusiastically supported by both a selection panel of six visual arts professionals and the Council," he says. "These two artists offer fresh perspectives on European art traditions."

Mr Carruthers also announced Director of the Christchurch Art Gallery Jenny Harper as Commissioner, and Dayle Mace and Jenny Gibbs as joint Head of Patrons for the New Zealand Biennale teams.

Creative New Zealand will invest $650,000 directly in the project, as well as providing staff support. Additional income of over $400,000 is targeted to come from sponsorship and private patronage.

"Taking two artists helps ensure that we get the most value from what is a significant investment," said Mr Carruthers.

The artists and their concepts

A graduate of the Elam School of Fine Arts, Judy Millar is renowned for her large-scale vibrant paintings.

Her concept for the Venice Biennale is an installation of large-scale painted canvases that will intersect through walls and out of windows challenging the conventions of display and exhibition design. The canvases will allow the viewer to move physically inside the painting. The installation aims to create a new perspective on and question European painting traditions, particularly the relationship between the art object and the exhibition space.

A New Zealand born artist living in London, Francis Upritchard was the 2006 winner of the Walters Prize and has exhibited extensively in New Zealand, Europe and America since graduating from Canterbury University's Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1997.

Her concept for the Biennale is an imaginary landscape, which refers to the hallucinatory works of the medieval painters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel but exists in an indeterminate historical period. The landscape will be populated with hand-made figures. All the architectural structures will be mixed-media, made of materials such as glass, wood, ceramic and leather. The landscape will combine the antique with the futuristic, making the scene both familiar and unsettling. The work explores ideas about time, hope and evolutionary change.

The Venice Biennale is attended by over 70 countries, attracting more than one million visitors, including tens of thousands of the world's most influential artists, curators, gallery directors, critics and collectors. This is the fourth time New Zealand artists have presented work at the Biennale with the support of Creative New Zealand.

Mr Carruthers said participation in the Venice Biennale provides an outstanding opportunity for contemporary New Zealand art to profile in a highly influential international arena.

"Unquestionably, the Venice Biennale is one of the best ways to promote New Zealand's visual arts offshore," he said.

The curatorial teams

Judy Millar, will team up with Auckland-based curator Leonhard Emmerling to develop her concept for the Biennale, while Francis Upritchard will work with Wellington-based Curator Heather Galbraith and London-based Curator Francesco Manacorda.

Both the Millar and the Upritchard teams were chosen following a rigorous selection process, which included advice from a panel of six, independent New Zealand visual arts specialists. The selected teams were chosen from four short-listed proposals all of which were of a high standard, he said.

"This is an excellent outcome for New Zealand - two exciting artists supported by a seasoned team with considerable experience at the Venice Biennale - we are confident they will deliver a great result," he said.