John Hurrell – 6 April, 2009

Three hoardings on the street on a wall opposite the front entrance to Te Tuhi. Two are large photographs by Fiona Amundsen of the part of the Auckland waterfront once called the ‘Tank Farm’. The one of the far right is a text by Tim Corballis, a couple of fictitious transcribed conversations set in the future (next month) - about listeners not attending to - or grasping - what they are being told. There has been an accident in a nearby boat and they are oblivious.

Amundsen’s images look very different this size, a large 12 x 15 foot rectangle for each. They are unusual for her. Slightly painterly the colours are especially seductive, as if they were oil paint - particularly in the reflective water of the harbour. The weave of the plastic fabric brings a glowing but delicately gridded light into the colour and not onto it. Secondary and tertiary hues play off against the strident primaries.

For Amundsen the chroma is strikingly sensual. There is a generosity with this scale and its impact on colour not found within her earlier work in galleries or publications. The middle image is crystal clear and utterly gorgeous, while the one on the left has a deliciously fuzzy boat bobbing around blurrily in the water. A real celebration.

- John Hurrell 

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