Celebrated Artists Chosen for 2009 Venice Biennale

Two New Zealand artists - Judy Millar from Auckland and Francis Upritchard from Christchurch - will represent New Zealand in a six month exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale - widely recognised as the most significant event on the international visual arts calendar.

Chair of Creative New Zealand's Arts Council Alastair Carruthers says "the decision to send two artists shows a strong commitment to the success of New Zealand visual arts overseas. It will be an important project for arts patrons, the visual arts community and the Arts Council to invest in together."

"A well respected mid-career artist and teacher, Judy Millar is considered one of New Zealand's most experienced abstractionists", said Mr Carruthers. Her concept for Venice is "strong, bold and exciting".

Francis Upritchard has also presented a "compelling" project and Mr Carruthers described her as "a young rising star in the art world".

"Both are talented, outstanding artists and will represent the arts sector and New Zealand exceptionally well.  This decision is enthusiastically supported by both a selection panel of six visual arts professionals and the Council," he says. "These two artists offer fresh perspectives on European art traditions."

Mr Carruthers also announced Director of the Christchurch Art Gallery Jenny Harper as Commissioner, and Dayle Mace and Jenny Gibbs as joint Head of Patrons for the New Zealand Biennale teams.

Creative New Zealand will invest $650,000 directly in the project, as well as providing staff support. Additional income of over $400,000 is targeted to come from sponsorship and private patronage.

"Taking two artists helps ensure that we get the most value from what is a significant investment," said Mr Carruthers.

The artists and their concepts:

A graduate of the Elam School of Fine Arts, Judy Millar is renowned for her large-scale vibrant paintings.

Her concept for the Venice Biennale is an installation of large-scale painted canvases that will intersect through walls and out of windows challenging the conventions of display and exhibition design. The canvases will allow the viewer to move physically inside the painting. The installation aims to create a new perspective on and question European painting traditions, particularly the relationship between the art object and the exhibition space.

A New Zealand born artist living in London, Francis Upritchard was the 2006 winner of the Walters Prize and has exhibited extensively in New Zealand, Europe and America since graduating from Canterbury University's Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1997.

Her concept for the Biennale is an imaginary landscape, which refers to the hallucinatory works of the medieval painters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel but exists in an indeterminate historical period. The landscape will be populated with hand-made figures. All the architectural structures will be mixed-media, made of materials such as glass, wood, ceramic and leather. The landscape will combine the antique with the futuristic, making the scene both familiar and unsettling. The work explores ideas about time, hope and evolutionary change.

The Venice Biennale is attended by over 70 countries, attracting more than one million visitors, including tens of thousands of the world's most influential artists, curators, gallery directors, critics and collectors. This is the fourth time New Zealand artists have presented work at the Biennale with the support of Creative New Zealand.

Mr Carruthers said participation in the Venice Biennale provides an outstanding opportunity for contemporary New Zealand art to profile in a highly influential international arena.

"Unquestionably, the Venice Biennale is one of the best ways to promote New Zealand's visual arts offshore," he said.

The curatorial teams

Judy Millar, will team up with Auckland-based curator Leonhard Emmerling to develop her concept for the Biennale, while Francis Upritchard will work with Wellington-based Curator Heather Galbraith.

Both the Millar and the Upritchard teams were chosen following a rigorous selection process, which included advice from a panel of six, independent New Zealand visual arts specialists. The selected teams were chosen from four short-listed proposals all of which were of a high standard, he said.

"This is an excellent outcome for New Zealand – two exciting artists supported by a seasoned team with considerable experience at the Venice Biennale – we are confident they will deliver a great result," he said.


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 Biographies

Judy Millar is considered one of New Zealand's most experienced mid-career abstractionists. Her large scale paintings challenge the relationship between canvas and paint, static and movement.

Born in Auckland, Judy Millar grew up on the North Shore and attended the University of Auckland, Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating with a BFA in 1980 and an MFA in 1983. Between 1998 and 2005 she lectured in painting at Elam where she was regarded as an influential and successful teacher. She still lectures part-time at the School.

Millar won the McCahon House Residency in 2006, she was Artist in Residence at the Dunedin Art Gallery in 2003, the Paramount Winner of the Wallace Art Award in 2002, the recipient of a Creative New Zealand Travel Grant in 1993 and won a Moet and Chandon Fellowship to Avize, France in 1994.

She has works represented in the collections of: Te Papa, the Dunedin, Christchurch, Manawatu and Auckland Art Galleries. She is also represented at Waikato and Auckland Universities, Kunstmuseum St Gallen in Switzerland and CAP Art in Dublin Ireland.

Between 1994 and 2008 Judy Millar has exhibited her work in 26 solo exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin. In the past 18 years she has also exhibited in 26 group exhibitions both internationally and in New Zealand.

Judy Millar lives and works between Auckland and Berlin.

Curator:

Dr Leonhard Emmerling is the Director of the St Paul's Street Gallery at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Born in Germany in 1961 he has a PhD in Art History from the University of Heidelberg.

During his career Leonhard Emmerling has curated more than 40 exhibitions in Europe and New Zealand.

He was a lecturer in art theory at the Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Berlin, and the University of Ludwigsburg and has authored several books including: Renaissance and Gothic Art in the Palatinat, 1. Liga! – The function of the institution museum today; Friendly Fire, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, and Roman Signer – Sculpting in Time.

Francis Upritchard

Francis Upritchard is a New Zealand born artist living in London. She has exhibited extensively in Aotearoa New Zealand, Europe and America since graduating from Canterbury University's Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1997. In 2006 Francis Upritchard was the winner of the Walters Prize, often referred to as the New Zealand equivalent of the Tate Prize, Tate Britain.

In 2007-08 Francis Upritchard took up a three month residency at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery resulting in the exhibition rainwob I before participating in a residency at Artspace in Sydney where she presented rainwob II. These exhibitions continue to explore Upritchard's fascination with the dislocated; a mix of history retrieved, reworked and reinvested with new meaning. The result is prophetic in its confusion and misunderstanding; the ancient mixes it up with the future, this is evolution gone wild.

Upritchard has maintained a regular exhibiting profile in New Zealand, and returns regularly to make new work. In addition to co-running The Bart Wells Institute, a gallery she co-founded with Luke Gottelier, Upritchard has curated a number of group exhibitions in London and New Zealand. The artist's book Human Problems, with text by Hari Kunzru was published by Kate MacGarry and Veenman Publishers in 2006.


Curator

Heather Galbraith is Senior Curator/Manager Curatorial Programmes at City Gallery, Wellington.

Born in 1970 in New Zealand, Heather Galbraith studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University before moving to London in 1992. After completing a MA in Curating at Goldmiths College, London, she worked as Exhibitions Organiser at Camden Arts Centre for seven years, delivering exhibitions, off-site projects and publications. In 2004 Galbraith returned to New Zealand as Director of St. Paul ST Gallery, AUT, Auckland. 

In 2005 Heather Galbraith took up the position of Senior Curator/Manager Curatorial Programmes at City Gallery Wellington, where along with managing the curatorial team she has curated exhibitions by Guy Ngan (2006), Tony Lane (2006), Telecom Prospect 2007: New Art New Zealand (2007), and Hany Armanious (2007).


Selection Advisory Panel

Alastair Carruthers – Panel Chair, and Chair Creative New Zealand Arts Council
Greg Burke – Director, The Power Plant, Toronto
Jenny Gibbs – Art Patron
Jenny Harper – Director, Christchurch Art Gallery
Robert Jahnke – Artist and Professor of Māori Studies, Massey University
Jenny May – Creative New Zealand's Arts Council
Jonathan Mane-Wheoki – Director of Art and Collection Services, Te Papa
Caroline Vercoe – Senior Lecturer, Art History Department, Auckland University.