This week we pay attention to some good-looking books….

Remember to enter the NZLive.com giveaway, giving you the chance to win either a copy of Aberhart or Shot in New Zealand.

Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture

InForm: New Zealand Graffiti Artists Discuss Their Work by Elliot O’Donnell (Raupo Publishing)

Elliot “Askew” O’Donnell has been at the forefront of New Zealand graffiti for many years. He is part of the world-conquering T.M.D. crew – the team that won the 2006 Write4Gold competition held in Germany.

“Graffiti as an art form is, and has fast become a recognised cultural phenomenon worldwide. InForm investigates the development of graffiti art in New Zealand, showcasing 15 influential and innovative graffiti artists. Each artist is profiled by a contributing writer, and each essay is accompanied by imagery that showcase techniques used through the progress of a single piece.”

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Watch Askew and his crew TMD in action
Read an interview with Elliot O’Donnell aka Askew
Buy Elliot O’Donnell’s InForm online

Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (Penguin Group (NZ))

Ngahuia Te Awekotuku is a cultural activist, writer, research professor, and frustrated artist. Her PhD (1981) focussed on tourism and Maori culture. Since then, she has served on various governance boards in the arts, and the academy. She has worked as a museum curator, art historian, and repatriation consultant. Now at the University of Waikato, she is interested in heritage issues, gender, the arts, and cultural studies. She enjoys haka, cats and half marathons which take her home to Waiariki, along the Waikato, and towards Waikaremoana.

“This magnificently illustrated book by a group of Māori scholars from the University of Waikato is the closest there has ever been to a ‘complete’ book on moko. Mau Moko examines the use of moko by traditional Māori, notes historical material including manuscripts and unpublished, aural sources, and links the art to the present day. It explores the cultural and spiritual issues surrounding moko and relates dozens of stories, many of them powerful and heart-warming, from wearers and artists.”

Buy Ngahuia Te Awekotuku’s Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo online
Read ‘Myth and the Moko’ article from the Waikato Times
Learn more about Ta Moko on this site from Te Papa

Shot In New Zealand: The art and craft of the Kiwi cinematographer by Duncan Petrie (Random House NZ)

Professor Duncan Petrie is Professor of Film, Television and Media Studies at the University of Auckland. He has written numerous books on British and Scottish film-making including The British Cinematographer (1996), Screening Scotland (2000) and Contemporary Scottish Fictions (2004). Duncan moved to New Zealand in 2004 and lives in Auckland with his wife and daughter.

“Much of the visual impact of New Zealand films can be attributed directly to the cinematographer, the creative individual primarily responsible for the look of a film. Shot In New Zealand explores the distinctive visual qualities of many iconic New Zealand films and charts the achievements and resourcefulness of our best cinematographers, who all exhibit the classic Kiwi ‘can do’ attitude.”

Buy Duncan Petrie’s Shot in New Zealand online
Read more about cinematographers at Wikipedia
Tracking Shots: An online exhibition which traces the history of the New Zealand film industry

Illustrative

Aberhart by Laurence Aberhart, with essays by Gregory O’Brien and Justin Paton (Victoria University Press)

Laurence Aberhart was born in Nelson in 1949, and since 1983 has lived and worked in Russell, Bay of Islands. His photographs have been exhibited widely in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, and significant holdings of his work are to be found in public galleries on both sides of the Tasman.

Gregory O’Brien is primarily a poet and painter, and is also a Curator at City Gallery Wellington and the author of or a contributor to many landmark art books, including Lands and Deeds, Hotere—Out the Black Window, Rosalie Gascoigne—Plain Air, Parihaka—The Art of Passive Resistance, Welcome to the South Seas—Contemporary New Zealand Art for Young People and Back and Beyond; New Zealand Art for the Young and Curious (2008). His book-length essay News of the Swimmer Reaches Shore was published by VUP in 2007.

Justin Paton is one of New Zealand’s leading art writers and essayists, and is currently Curator of Contemporary Art at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. In the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, his book How to Look at a Painting (Awa Press) won the Leisure and Lifestyle category, and Jeffrey Harris (DPAG/VUP) was shortlisted in the Visual Art category. Among his recent exhibitions are World’s Edge, Shadowplay and Tall Tales and History Lessons: Contemporary New Zealand Art from the Nineteenth Century, all of which have included photographs by Laurence Aberhart. His essay ‘Black Box’ appears in the catalogue The Interior: Laurence Aberhart, McNamara Gallery Photography, 2003.

“Laurence Aberhart has been at the forefront of New Zealand photography since the late 1970s, and is recognised as a major international figure. Like the paintings of Colin McCahon – an artist with whom Aberhart is frequently paired – his photographs are a sustained meditation on time, place and cultural history. They are also virtuoso pieces of photographic craft.”

Read a review of the Laurence Aberhart book at The Lumiere Reader
See photographs by Laurence Aberhart at Sue Crockford Gallery
Buy Aberhart online

Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning by Jennifer Hay, with Ron Brownson, Chris Knox and Laurence Aberhart; designed by Aaron Beehre (Christchurch Art Gallery)

Jennifer Hay is assistant curator at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. She spent two years researching the works of Bill Hammond to bring together the major survey exhibition Jingle Jangle Morning. Other recent curatorial projects for Christchurch Art Gallery include Out of Erewhon, an exhibition of thirteen emerging Canterbury artists. In 2000 she co-curated Intervention, an international symposium of performance and post-object art. Jennifer wrote for Julia Morison: a loop around a loop, which was a finalist in the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and has contributed to the New Zealand Journal of Art History, Art New Zealand and Sculpture International. She has also written extensively on the work of sculptor Andrew Drummond.

“A spectacular publication tracing the career of one of New Zealand’s most sought-after contemporary painters. Taking its title from a line in Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, Jingle Jangle Morning reveals the development of Bill Hammond’s practice – from his frenetic, music-inspired work of the 1980s, through the rock surrealism of the 1990s, to the evolution of his signature bird paintings.”

Buy Jennifer Hay’s Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning online
Read a review of Jennifer Hay’s Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning
View works by Bill Hammond at NZ-Artists
An article by Tessa Laird about Bill Hammond’s painting

Comma dot dogma by Aaron Kreisler (editor) (Umbrella)

Aaron Kreisler is currently the curator at Dunedin Public Art Gallery. He has work in the New Zealand visual arts community for a number years as a critic, educator, art gallery manager and writer. In 2006 he won the Best Arts Review and named Best Reviewer at the Qantas Media Awards.

“Heavy card covers and recycled stocks bracket a comprehensive insight into Tom Kreisler’s prolific career. These materials embrace his understated, often overlooked, presence in New Zealand’s Art History and associate with his everyday and low-brow focus. The unapologetic title-block, formally type-set essays and over 100 reproductions reintroduce Kreisler to his audience.”

Buy Aaron Kreisler’s Comma dot dogma online
Read a review of Comma dot dogma at Beattie’s Book Blog
Enjoy the website of artist Tom Kreisler

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 10:56 am and is filed under Culture online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.