Updated scenes from the past

MARION VAN DIJK

CHANGING NARRATIVES: Janice Gill at her exhibtion Telling stories of ourselves.

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Arts reviews

Suter showcases outstanding contemporary ceramics Exhibition shows wood used in quirky, innovative ways Glimpse at work of talented potters Spring reveals sharpened skills Street art talk of the town An intriguing trip down the rabbit hole, into the shed Stimulation from the streets Rats rule roost in cracker concert Glimpses of the real and surreal Show brings new dimension to art

Telling Stories Of Ourselves, by Janice Gill. Suter Art Gallery until March 28. Reviewed by Paula Cunniffe.

As their creator states, the highly stylised figures in acrylic on board may seem like they're 40 years out of date, but they make the standpoint of the narrative even gnarlier.

Many artists appropriate the styles of others to add weight to the meaning of their works, but Janice Gill's adaptation of her previously more naive brushstrokes to a strongly outlined and illustrative pop-era style carries with it the male-dominated culture of the 1960s from which it stemmed.

Gill's exhibition at the Suter has been laid out to reflect the change in her painting style, beginning with her early career in Southland.

Her love of narrative started early, and with no formal art training except night classes in Invercargill, she has been encouraged to develop her own form of expression through paint.

Early examples are the lives of the ordinary in their place of work through to the series involving locals in settler times, such as Minnie Dean, the first and last woman to be given the death sentence in New Zealand, and nearby Hokonui's McCrae family, which involved generations of illegal whisky distilling and subsequent arrests on their property.

A strong theme of marginalisation emerges at the beginning, of men leading and women in

the background, to the highlighting of underprivileged people that fit the description as time goes by.

What may have seemed social comment in the time they were created becomes a loaded political statement when viewed through the post-modern filter of today's gallery audience.

Changes occurred in Gill's impetus after she created Real, Real, Unreal?, a street view to the inside of an art gallery containing people at one of her exhibition openings. Where a bag lady passes by those inside supping wine, not even engaging with the work, both are real moments in time, the one inside unreal in terms of the drama happening on the outside.

Gill's work becomes a candid revelation for truth of the moment in the scenes she creates, not just regionally, as the local cityscapes depict, but universally – the marginalised in the form of unemployment, beneficiaries, the homeless and emigrants. Poignant, too, are the introduced cultures in the form of branding that surrounds us, as historically recorded by Gill's articulate hand.

As relevant as a Rita Angus piece to a certain locale is a Janice Gill to the city of Nelson, and a must-see for those born and bred here.

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