Portraits exhibition in Auckland

Friday 23 April 6pm till late

Kate/Alison hit Auckland with the Portraits exhibition take 2. For one night only and the following sunny Saturday.

Presenting portraits by Anton Parsons (sculpture), Mark Smith (photography) and Meredith Collins (painting)

This venture was a fantastic opportunity to work with my dear friend Janie Browne again.  We were last seen in cahoots at the Auckland Art Gallery back in the late 90s and somehow that experience has bonded us for life. Not much is as fun as talking art/fashion/kinship with Jane, and this was a very good excuse. And, from an art point of view, Alison and I felt that the Portraits exhibition we curated last year needed a bigger audience than we were able to give it in Hamilton.

The gracious white villa of Mike and Jane Browne, with two big rooms downstairs, nestled into leafy Herne Bay, seemed perfect. Here we gathered a merry band of the artists, friends, supporters, art followers and the like and had ourselves a great evening, culminating with a very late night supper within the exhibition for those with endurance.

On reflection our enthusiasm and gung ho attitude may have made things a trifle unclear for new viewers. Not many catalogues, no numbers, most not for sale (the idea was to generate commission for new and personal portraits of one kind or another). And then the confusing fact that we showed two very different aspects of Mark Smiths work. His large format bnw contact print portraits together with his  more personal body of work that reflects his own sharp eye for the painfully wonderful in the everyday.

However, despite these minor irks, we are calling it a success. For me it was especially nice to be back in Auckland talking art, to see faces for my past art life there, and to introduce Kate and Alison and what we do – art whispering among other things. 

details from the catalogue..
ceramic and glass work on table by Trudie Kroef
for further details please contact Kate or Alison through our website

Commissioning a Portrait
A Portrait by painter Meredith Collins

Meredith Collins has a amazing ability to capture that something special in a child, that quality we instantly recognize, yet find so hard to define - a combination of innocence and knowing. Life like and recognizable her portraits also possess an ethereal quality that seems to capture the essence of childhood. Not confined to children her portraits of adolescence and adults similarily capture  that hard to define truth about an individual.

Cost - A commissioned painting the size of those in the show 710 x 555 mm is

$ 3500.00 incl gst and other sizes can be easily arranged.

The portrait price includes meeting with the subject, taking photographs and the following discussion about an appropriate photograph to base the portrait on. This process is very much a collaboration between the artist the and commissioner of the portrait. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required at the beginning of this process.

A Portrait by photographer Mark Smith

Most of us will at some time in our lives find the papery portraits made available through photographs deeply compelling and comforting. Mark Smith reemploys the technique of those old school photographers with his 5x4 large format camera.

The unique qualities of Smith’s portraits are brought about by the 19th century technique he employs with this camera, a process that despite great leaps in technology still produces one of the most secure archival images possible today. Perhaps more ironic than this, and certainly it will be a great loss, is the fact that this process will before too long, become extinct, as the film and paper is now a very finite resource. Constantly increasing in both cost and scarcity, Mark imports both his paper and film from New York in order to get the quality he needs.

The results of all Smith’s portrait sittings are catalogued and indexed for the protection of the negative and ease of reordering at a later date. The photographic prints are printed on fibre-based silver gelatin paper of the highest archival quality.

Cost for a portrait sitting - $1,500 - $1,800 depending on number of sitters and time

This includes Marks time, travel, processing and material costs, contact prints on 10x8 paper of all images taken. Larger images are an additional cost, for example an 11 x14 inch print is $120 per print.

All portraits are taken with the large format camera producing  a 5 x 4 inch negative, which the contact prints are made from.

A Portrait or commemorative work by Anton Parsons

The seemingly abstract number blocks by Anton Parsons can in fact be very specific and extremely personal. A unique and creative way to commemorative a birth date, anniversary or special event.  They can even be extended to create a family group and in doing so a stunning contemporary sculpture for your home by a leading New Zealand artist.

Cost - from $850.00 per block

note - In Auckland Meredith Collins is represented by Whitespace and Mark Smith is represented by Artis Gallery

Commissions of portraits can be commissioned through Kate/Alison