Welcome all dreamers and weavers of tall tales, welcome to those who feel the call of the wild underfoot. Welcome into the painted figurative world of Emma Hercus and the earthy flame licked ceramic flower beds of Jenn Leov.
This body of work feels like an invitation to reassess how we live with the natural world around us. Emma Hercus’s figurative paintings are filled with enchanted rural settings, wild birds and animals, overblown plant life and charismatic characters that nestle themselves into richly woven backdrops. There is an obvious tension present in each work, coded culture and nature clash, the worldly and the unsophisticated sit side by side. Our biospheric need to be close to nature working alongside natures unpredictable wild tendencies. Pop culture references abound—Mick Jagger, PK chewing gum, Mello Yello, the pocketed cell phone and classic AC/DC t-shirt.
These are New Zealand stories, a little nostalgic, I feel the call to enter each painterly tale.
Jenn Leovs wild ceramic garden blooming with sprouting wild flower motifs, sits gently alongside these bold wildy works, glazed in earthy browns and forest greens. Many works have been fired in an anagama kiln and left with the handprint of the kilns own unpredictable wild nature.
‘Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind’
— Rolling Stones
Wildy reminds us to dream and reconnect with nature.
