June 2022 – David Le Fleming

Group exhibition curated by CAS Gallery Taranaki

Percy Thomson Gallery, Whakaahurangi Stratford
27 May – 21 July 2022

Group exhibition, featuring artwork by:
Peter Madden
Seung Yul Oh
Garth Steeper
Tia Ranginui
Rohan Wealleans
Kirk Nicholls
Kayla Adams
Sam Dollimore
David Le Fleming
Mary MacGregor-Reid
Leben Young

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Gareth Steeper – Coven in Flight (2021) – oil on canvas

from left: Rohan Wealleans, Tia Ranginui, David Le Fleming

Rohan Weallens – Motherboard (2021) – acrylic on aluminium

Sam Dollimore – Unbecoming (2019) – work on paper

David Le Fleming – Thinking of you (2022) – oil and enamel on substrate fireguard – 710 x 610mm

Leben Young – Untitled Objects (2021) Assemblage – recycled material, sand,coal

David Le Fleming – Māui Fireguard (2022) – oil on oak fireguard – 560 x 677mm

Māui Fireguard is part of Le Fleming’s recent explorations in mythology in which he makes images of reverence and reflection for today’s world. Appropriating from heraldry, iconography and folk art, he has painted apon 2D relief found artifacts that are unsettlingly familiar.

Here, Le Fleming uses an antique oak firescreen to evoke a cosy colonial context. On it, he reimagines the critically endangered popoto, or Māui dolphin, as a mesmerising sea spirit of a medieval maritime map. This tutelary idol dwarfs nearby insignia of the humble dairy cow, offered as a metaphor for our existence as humans, food chain and industry, positioned precariously on a small boat. Rotational symmetry creates the feel of a playing card, telling of a gamble against nature, born of failure to recognise the land’s singularity, and the judgement of its guardians.