2024 A-C — MAGS ART SHOW

Jamie AdamsonJamie Adamson’s strong interest in working with wood began during his early years, when he remembers joining his grandfather in his workshop and tinkering away with tools to fix and create things. After leaving school, Jamie completed his apprenticeship in the boat building trade which gave him experience working with timber, steel and fibreglass materials. Through boat building Jamie learned patience and the ability to craft a concept into a product that looks aesthetically pleasing. Having recently sold his business, Jamie is now embracing his long-harboured interest in sculpting with wood. Using boat building techniques, he is experimenting and developing his own style of sculpture. For Jamie, wood is a natural pleasure to work with and the process comes from an instinctual space. He enjoys the physicality of the forms he creates, emulating natural shapes, flowing lines, and working with the organic nature of the material.

Ahsin AhsinAhsin Ahsin is based in Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. He has exhibited in Auckland, the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel as well as Melbourne, and has completed an extensive number of commissions. His works are vibrant and dynamic, influenced by 80s and 90s sci-fi films and street art. He incorporates artistic and pop culture references which his imagination distils into fantastic creatures and sigils, graffiti marks and gestures suspended in hyperspace. He works his neo-pop style across a variety of surfaces that can be seen on the street in mural form and in galleries.

Michael AndersonAuckland-based artist Michael Anderson graduated from Hungry Creek Art School in 2011 with an interest in action painting and abstract expressionism. He paints primarily on plywood using oil and water-based house paints, sometimes incorporating foil, wood offcuts or chunks of dried paint, frequently exposing the ply underneath with polyurethane. Paintings are always done on the floor, often composed in a thick pool of poured polyurethane. He uses dripping and pouring, with an eye for material interactions, waiting for the paint to reach a certain viscosity for the desired effect to take place. Michael has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the Auckland region since 2012.

Ronald AndreassendRonald Andreassend’s creativity blurs the boundaries between visual arts, craft, design and fashion, resulting in an output which ranges from artwork, sculptures, jewellery, costume, homewares and residential fixtures, to organising artist collaborations and events. Ronald`s ideas are drawn from family stories, his culture, interests, experimentation and objects that sometimes have no reason to exist other than to amuse and intrigue. Over the last two years he has been exploring Pacifica Auckland in culture, art, society and politics. It has been an eye opener, delving into areas that few are privileged to see. He has participated on many projects, as a photographer, artist and designer as well as simply volunteering or enjoying the warmth of Pacific culture and people.

Blake BeckfordBlake Beckford is an artist based in Auckland. Since completing his Bachelor of Design and Visual Arts in 2013, his work has been purchased for various collections, including the Arts House Trust. Blake currently experiments with hand painted, digitally drawn laser cut shapes. He utilises colours, shadows, distance and light to create aesthetically pleasing multi-layered artworks.

Sean BeldonSean Beldon is an Auckland artist best known for his large New Zealand landscape paintings. His style is mostly painterly with a modernist feel. Over the past decade, he has been photographing and painting landscapes, from the far north to the deep south. Travelling is essential to his art, providing the inspiration and material he needs for his landscape paintings. He paints exclusively scenes of places that he has been to, taking the time to photograph images that tell the story of the land. Using his viewfinder as a primary canvas, his compositions originate from his landscape photography.

Tanya BlongTanya Blong is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based artist. She graduated from Hungry Creek Art and Craft School in 2006, followed by further studies at Browne School of Art. Her figurative work speaks to a moment in time; hot summer days provide the backdrop to society at leisure. Encompassing the state of being idle, Tanya makes a dual commentary, an immersion into a slow sensory world, while also floating ideas of the luxury of time, access and inclusion. Her work is held in the Arts House Trust collection.

Michele Bryant

Julia BuddenOriginally from Cape Town, Julia Budden lives on Auckland’s North Shore. Her art is inspired by local flora, walking tracks and beaches, a love of working with colour and nature for wellbeing and happiness, and her background in psychology, landscape design and ecotherapy. She works mainly in acrylic and oil pastel, and uses cyanotype print making processes to capture plants and natural textures with her abstract, colour-filled style. Each piece usually starts with layers of acrylic paint in vibrant colour palettes, then cyanotype or watercolour washes are applied. The results are often unpredictable: experimental and moody, or ethereal with their washes of deep indigo blues, earthy umbers and white plant silhouettes.

Robbi CarvalhoBrazilian-born, Robbi Carvalho lived in Portugal and Angola before choosing Aotearoa as her home. Her careers in architecture and jewellery design refined her artistic style and technique, but it is painting which allows her to express herself most freely. A visual storyteller who celebrates the feminine, Robbi’s art invites you to take a meditative dive and have an encounter with your intuition and more subtle energies, a place where nature cares and heals.

Jamie ChapmanUnited Kingdom-born Jamie Chapman settled in Whangārei in 1989. In 2005 he moved to Auckland to study at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, completing his master’s degree at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2012. Jamie was awarded the University of Auckland Joe Raynes Scholarship in 2012, and in 2013 was the winner of the National Youth Art Award run by ArtsPost in Hamilton. His work is held in collections which include the Arts House Trust.

Clinton ChristianClinton Christian is an award-winning contemporary New Zealand artist who creates unique, bold and relatable modernist works. He uses a variety of styles, themes and mediums, putting his own personality into his art to inspire happiness, curiosity and memories. Clinton’s works are generally large canvas paintings or wood panel and resin pieces, some of which approach sculpture. His work has a very graphic style featuring composition, colour and contrast. Recently Clint has developed a new collection of work dubbed 'Retrovision' which dives into his youthful nostalgic memories of the 1970s and 1980s, also referencing modern themes or local pop culture.

Jodi ClarkJodi Clark first studied in Whanganui and graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 2002. Whanganui-based, her current works are an exploration of colour, modernism, decoration and the syntax of shapes. Using line and composition, she makes strong statements of form and the complexities of visual language. Her work process, intrinsic to the end product, involves making hundreds of sketches in an uncalculated, free-flowing way, each one informing the next, then using a select few as a starting point for paintings. Shape and composition have a fascinating trans-cultural and trans-historical aspect and Jodi appreciates the concept that symbolism, shape and colour can be interpreted according to the viewer's life experience. She therefore prefers the viewer to decide what she or he is seeing, rather than ask what it should be.

Brenda ClewsBrenda Clews is a self-taught artist. She has been passionate about art since childhood and is driven to learn more about her craft. Revelling in the freedom to experiment, painting elicits almost childlike wonder and excitement in her. It has also become a way to remember and document beautiful moments and imaginings; Brenda’s best work is inspired by focusing on the present and mindfulness. Her style continues to evolve, but she still uses thick lush textures with gestural brushstrokes to create a more abstracted final work. She works with slow-drying acrylics, which allow a longer manipulation timeframe and are closer to oils in texture, colour and saturation. Each piece has multiple layers and develops organically. The observer is invited to feel an emotion and draw on their own connection with nature rather than just looking at the image or colour. Brenda’s work has been purchased by collectors around the world and throughout Aotearoa.

Vicki Comrie-MooreVicki Comrie-Moore has been working with clay since she was 11 years old, when she was first taken by the medium and by sculpture. Her style is free-flowing and natural, using flora and fauna as inspiration, with splashes of colour glazes and other mediums bringing the pieces to life. Vicki is largely self taught and enjoys the freedom of working from a home studio on her farm.

Heidi CooneyHeidi Cooney is a contemporary artist and mother of three young children who lives and works in Mt Eden. She is inspired by the natural beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand and loves to bring her appreciation of nature indoors through her landscape and botanical paintings. She enjoys the challenge of capturing the natural world and her paintings convey a sense of peace and gratitude for the beautiful environment in which we live. Heidi paints primarily in acrylics on canvas and wood panel, loving the versatility of the medium.

Bryn Corkery Bryn Corkery is an Auckland-based multimedia artist. His work is inspired by the physical world and our relationship with it. The digital age is altering perception: reality remains the same but our perspectives are continually changing. While we are more connected, we are becoming more disconnected from our environment. Certain people and places are ignored on the recommendations of our screens and what others tell us through them. Bryn communicates his recommended perspectives through his art visually, without any pushed notifications.

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