Eyes

Some rocks in New Plymouth

that have been painted.

Gourds

A couple of days ago I bought 3 large gourds.

They were for sale at a market.

I instantly thought of them as a possible

photo subject and have been experimenting

for a couple of days.

I now think that there is not going to

a 'keeper' there but it is a worthwhile

exercise to give it a try, if for no

other reason than to discover why the

photos don't work.

I tried in colour and black and white

but still to no avail.

I did however remember how I had

taken a photo of a cone shell

several years ago. It is called

After Rembrandt because I

based it on a Rembrandt etching.

When I look at this photo, alongside

the gourd ones, I see that it is really

the speckles, the pattern

that I am interested in.

et al

A couple of days ago I went to see

Michael Lett's new gallery space in Auckland.

Even though I knew that the opening

show was an exhibition of the famous

NZ art collective known as et al,

the one that exhibited at the Venice Biennale,

and I thought that I had a pretty good

idea of what to expect, this time I was

well and truly fooled.

I arrived by car, parked in the generous

parking spaces off Beaconsfield Street but was confused.

This can't be the right space I thought,

this is an empty space still under construction.

Screwed up newsprint, rusting metal

structures lying around, a roller door

semiclosed, this can't be it I thought.

It was only when a courier arrived and I asked

if they knew where Michael Lett's was that I

realised that my mind had been well and truly

stretched beyond its current limitations.

This was the show, but it was spilling out of

the spaces inside into the carpark.

What a rewarding experience.

Art that expands my thinking is the

kind of art that I like.

Ponsonby

At the Karangahape end of Ponsonby

Road there are three or four of these

John Radford sculptures. "They have

been there for several years.

Now however, suddenly, they have

gained a new significance.