FEBRUARY-MAY 2016
NEW ZEALAND
Paul Mclachlan was selected for the residency and funded by the ASIA NEW ZEALAND FOUNDATION. He stay for three months and produced a great body of work during this time, studiously developing his drawings which were exhibited at the HOF Gallery and then in woodblock print form back in New Zealand.
The artworks produced in Bangkok examine the relationship between everyday life and the spiritual practices Paul observed during his time in Bangkok. The images are lyrical and poetic and draw on Thai art conventions. They utilise graphic black and white shapes to form worlds that slip between light and dark and positive and negative space.
The exhibition was titled “Locking antlers with the clouds” which is a line from the poem, ReBirth Blues, byD. A. Levy (1942-1968), an American Buddhist poet, who was the publisher of an underground newspaper, “The Buddhist Third Class Junkmail Oracle.” The phrase creates a beautiful, energetic image; reflecting an intimate connection with the natural world as well as a feverish wrestling with a spiritual reality.
Along side this body of work he also developed an experimental project which involves mildewing paper a locations. As the materials are exposed for long periods of time to the environmental conditions of a location, the affects of that place embed and impress themselves onto and into the artwork. He see’s this as a form of long-term printmaking.
The mildew prints he buried and hid throughout the streets of Bangkok were successful. A selection of the more successful ones were installed in the gallery space and mounted on wooden bases, making them read more as canvases, like all-over abstract expressionist paintings.
http://www.paulmclachlan.co.nz/blog/