Lisa Reihana: in Pursuit of Venus [Infected]

Yesterday I saw Lisa Reihana's 'In Pursuit of Venus [Infected]' at the Auckland Art Gallery. It's one of the best thing I've ever seen. I went on about Daniel Crooks' 'An Embroidery of Voids' but I somehow liked this better. 

 

'Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique'

It is, essentially, Jean Gabriel Charvet's wallpaper 'Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique' come to life. 

Alberton House

Other iterations of he work have been exhibited before , at various homesteads and galleries. Viewing it on two screens, and within a glass case, couldn't be more different to the way it appears now. At the Auckland Art Gallery it is twenty-six meters long, and four meters high. It utilizes five projectors, and runs on a 32 minute loop. 

It feels magical, like a painting that's come to life, but it deals with a lot of important issues. Unlike the wallpaper this work includes, or centers around, the meeting between Europeans and Polynesians. The canoe in the background of the original painting has been replaced with a european vessel. It challenges stereotypes and accepted histories, and culminates in James Cook's death. There are over one hundred characters including Captain Cook, Joseph Banks, and the painter William Hodges.

Photographs of the work all look like paintings to me, and it's hard to imagine them animated, but I think that is a testament to how well the video has been made. The background, which is beautiful, has been painted. It has a surreal, utopian look to it, but the people don't look too superimposed - they look like they belong there.

 

You can listen to a podcast of Lisa Reihana talking about the work here, watch a video of the work here which functions a bit like a trailer, plus the Auckland Art Gallery is holding a series of talks on the work which you can read about here.