Sunday 27 May 2012

Falling and Flying 2011 (HB Invitational)

Falling 2011

Flying 2011
These photographs were shown at the Hawke's Bay Invitational 2011 at the Hastings City Art Gallery. Reviewed in Art News New Zealand Winter 2011 by Lucy Hammonds:
"As with any large survey, this exhibition is a mixed bag. Where it excels is in its moments of surprise and discovery, which for me was the diptych Falling, Flying by Napier photographer 
Denise Wilkinson." 

Kitchen collages, (green formica tray) 2011



These collages are assembled on a vintage formica tray, photographed and framed with a wood grain matt board and a thin brushed steel molding to imitate the handles on the tray. 
This work stems from the collages produced for the Source show in Hastings. Playing with combinations of ordinary domestic and personal objects, images from fairy tales and hands from magazines allows another view of things. The hands and arms act as the 'plus' sign in a mathematical equation enabling the joining of objects to make new sentences, make new sense?
On show and for sale at Hastings City Art Gallery 
approx. 300 x 400mm each

Ice Cream Containers of Light 2010


Ice Cream Containers 2010
Light pours in and out of, and through these containers.
An aspect of photography that I find interesting is in fact very obvious - the use of, and need for light in order to make an image. I am drawn to photographing ordinary bits of light that we take for granted and am inspired by Bill Culbert's photographs of light, lights and 'found' light and his sculpture incorporating plastic bottles and other domestic objects with fluorescent tubes.

Kitchen Ceilings 2011

 Untitled (kitchen ceiling with flash) 2011
Untitled (kitchen ceiling day light reflections) 2011
Further explorations of found light: shadows, lights, flashbulbs, reflections, sunlight...

Music Box Wine Box 2010

This wine box was made for Mosaic Art Space auction in 2010.
The piano shaped music box and accompanying dressing table objects were created from photos of the real objects and reassembled into 3D by a series of intricate cutting and gluing procedures in the same way you make a box from a flat form.

Sunday 20 May 2012

Some Zebras 2010, 2009

 Still Life with Zebra 2010
This work is available for sale from the Hastings City Art Gallery.

Untitled (Zebra running) 2009

Photographs 2006-09: Lightbulb Cross, Submerge, Mannequin

 Lightbulb Cross 2006
Digital photograph

Submerge 2009
Digital photograph
First exhibited at the Hawke's Bay Invitational, Hastings City Art Gallery

Mannequin 2009
Digital photograph


Kitchen Bench Still Life series 2002-04

Still Life with Sponge and Cleaver 2004
Hawke's Bay Review Photography Award 2004
"This is an evocative and nicely judged photograph" Damian Skinner


Kitchen Bench diptych 2002
Photographs from film and hand enlarged full frame negative


Kitchen Sink triptych 2002

Hawke's Bay Review 2003
Photographs from film and hand enlarged full frame negative

Source Exhibition 2010 Hastings City Art Gallery

Snow White and Rose Red in Marewa 2010
Digital photographs hand collaged
(limited edition of five, one sold)
Snow White in Marewa 2010
Digital photographs hand collaged
(limited edition of five, one sold)

What are little girls made of?
Volumes lining the walls of her home indicate this artist’s love of books. It’s unsurprising to discover that her first job was in a library, as Denise’s art practice could be seen as a consistent illustration of autobiography. The provocation of the ‘Source’ show has encouraged reflection. Recalling a time Grandmother, mother, aunt and herself worked together at the local picture theatre, she says a lineage of independent women has defined her. Mother created fancy dress costumes, from beloved fairy tales and at five years old, adorned in gossamer and tulle, Denise can still taste the disappointment in a wand that clearly has no magic.Aside from these difficult childhood lessons, the obvious construction of gender implied by the passive female characters of fable has been of interest. Eric Winter’s paintings in the children’s ladybird books of the sixties are coveted examples of potent archetypal images that have stayed with Denise. Snow white preserved in a ‘glass coffin’ and the prised pea that defines a princess, are particular favourites. Snow White and Rose Red, (who have appeared previously in her work) run down a Napier service lane. Representing two sides of the artist, they are now located in her own photographic landscape. The images are intentionally created without digital intervention. The camera becomes a drawing tool. Denise states that she “makes photos, not takes photos”. Working in series, personal objects are physically cut out and placed in juxtapositions that allude to ‘self portrait’. Denise’s visual narratives are intensely personal, highly metaphoric and invite the ‘reader’ to ponder what this woman is made of, and perhaps recognise themselves for a moment. 
Maree Mills, Director Hastings City Art Gallery 2010

Untitled (Fairytales with domestic objects) 2010
hand collaged digital photographs, series of nine, available individually
Source exhibition 2010
Source: a group show with Jo Blogg, Linda Bruce, Leanne Culy, Jill Webster, Anneleise Hough, Elaine Mayer, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Fiona Hislop, Denise Wilkinson.

Thursday 17 May 2012

Service Lane, Video Games, Mary-Kate & Ashley 2004

Mary-Kate & Ashley as Snow White & Rose Red 2004
Norsewear Art Awards, Merit Award 2004 
acrylic paint on newsprint

Service Lane 2004
First exhibited at the Hawke's Bay Art Review, Hastings, 2004
Video Games 2004

These photos were taken with film and hand enlarged in Napier on an Agfa machine no longer in use. Only one of each was printed in this manner.
Approx. 450 x 600mm, these original prints are framed.

After the Party 2006, Shower Curtains dip 2005

Shower Curtains diptych 2005
photographs from film hand enlarged full frame, one print each only, framed
Norsewear Art Awards 2005

After the Party 2006
Digital photograph
First exhibited at the Hawke's Bay Review

Approx 350 x 500mm

Thursday 10 May 2012

Dorothea Lange quote

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Postcards: Mitre Peak with Snow White 2010



Collages with commercial postcards and Snow White (and the Seven Dwarfs) story book image 2010