Martin Ball: Carey's Bay 2000 / 28 April - 22 May 2009

Carey’s Bay 2000 is a series of portrait paintings by Martin Ball of Ralph Hotere; New Zealand’s most important living artist. This powerful exhibition, named after the small coastal town 10 minutes drive out of Dunedin where Hotere lives, provides a dynamic record of Ball’s encounter with the artist at Carey’s Bay in 2000. Ball’s elegantly rendered representations express the respect and esteem he holds for Hotere and his work.

Martin Ball’s hyperrealist style emphasises the character and likeness of the portrait subject with meticulous precision and flair. The artist’s interpretation of the subject employs subtle pictorial elements to create the illusion of a reality which might or might not exist. Through the act of painting Ball demonstrates his exquisite technical capabilities. His use of a singular portrait theme and subject is complex and thought-provoking, engaging and challenging the viewer not only through the paintings' references to the social, cultural and political themes but also to the tradition of portraiture itself.

Martin Ball is one of New Zealand’s foremost contemporary portrait painters. His 2007 portrait of Neil Finn won the Packing Room Prize in the prestigious Archibald Portrait Exhibition in Australia in 2008. He was the first New Zealand-based artist selected as a finalist in the Archibald in 2005 and again in 2007. Martin Ball’s work is featured in recent publications on New Zealand Art including Contemporary New Zealand Art 5 by Elizabeth Caughey and New Zealand Portraits by Richard Wolfe.

Work by Martin Ball is held in public and private collections in New Zealand and the United States.

A Gallery Floor Talk will be given by Dr Erin Griffey on Thursday 7 May at 5pm.