This exhibition is at Gow Langford Auckland City.

Five Figures brings together a selection of figurative works by notable women artists. It includes work by Jacqueline Fahey, Dame Louise Henderson, Ayesha Green, Nicky Hoberman, and Jenny Watson.

Throughout art history, female figuration has been a focal point for artists seeking to portray the human experience through a gendered lens. From the early classical depictions of goddesses to more modern interpretations of everyday women, female artists have continued the dialogue and discourse around representation, gender and identity.

Fahey is in her 90s and has sustained a painting practice since the 1950s, continuing to paint to the present day. Born in France in 1902, Henderson became one of New Zealand’s most important modernists, creating an exceptional body of painting up until her death in 1994. Green is a leading contemporary painter whose paintings often explore contemporary life in Aotearoa and the historic circumstances that have shaped it. Hoberman is a South Africa born, London-based artist who has developed a strong international reputation for her distinctive paintings that combine elements of photo-realism and pronounced caricature. Watson is a leading Australian artist, who has had an active practice for more than four decades. She represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1993.

These artists have created works that present the female figure, each exploring themes of female representation in image-making, composition, colour and figurative likeness in a unique way.