Auckland Landscapes / 18 May - 4 June 2011

John Leech Gallery is pleased to present Auckland Landscapes, a group exhibition where through painterly, photographic and print mediums some of New Zealand's most iconic artists have captured the essence of our varied surroundings with their own distinctive styles.
Landscapes are loaded with symbolism. What is included and what is excluded - and how - contribute to a highly specific reading of a particular place during a certain social, environmental and political time.
The artworks presented in Auckland Landscapes do not just capture the landscape for its own sake but also reference and emit various emotional connections of place and time. The Burton Brothers photographic cataloguing of New Zealand in the latter half of the C19th presents the burgeoning colonial settlement of Auckland while over 100 years later it is Patrick Reynolds' set of 2005 photographs that provide a true sense of the land in its most untouched state.
Scenes of Auckland invariably include bodies of water - from the rugged West Coast beaches to the manicured aesthetics of Orakei and Mission Bay.  Colin McCahon's Moby Dick is Sighted off Muriwai Beach reflects the artist's sense of humour and environmental concerns while the work of Justin Boroughs and Don Binney present a more utopian view of our surroundings.