EAST 2020 artists announced

Hawke’s Bay’s biennial flagship exhibition EAST 2020 will this year be presenting some of the region’s most exciting and diverse artworks, with 54 artists featured.

Hastings City Art Gallery will be the venue for the exhibition that has given new stars the opportunity to emerge and present their work alongside more established and recognised stalwarts of this event.

Gallery curator Clayton Gibson said the diverse collection includes photography, painting, ceramics, mixed media and sculpture.

“Curating EAST has given me the opportunity to meander my way around the flats visiting artists in their studios and chewing the fat about the state of the visual arts in the Bay.

“What I encountered was a diverse and supportive group of inspired and passionate creatives, all working to enhance their practice, and explore current issues in their work.

“Any selected exhibition of work in the year 2020 could not help but reflect the issues generated out of the upheaval the coronavirus has imposed upon us, and two common threads in these works are the reference to the challenge of COVID-19, along with concern and aspiration for the future of our community.”

Some regular contributers to this event appear this year, including David Trubridge, Leslie Falls, John Eaden, Kathy Boyle, Wellesley Binding, and Patrick Tymann, to name a few.

They will be joined by a group of up and coming creatives who are starting to make a splash in the local art scene and are demanding notice every time they make an offering.

Putaanga Waitoa, Cinzah Merkens and Dali Susanto are three such artists featured.

A new dimension to the exhibition has been introduced this year - video insights into the artists and their personal studio/workshop environments. These bite-sized videos will feature on social media and the gallery website in the lead up to the exhibition. 

Also, from October onwards, look out for six solar powered lightboxes on Hastings street corners that will preview pieces from the EAST 2020 exhibition.

Te Whare toi o Heretaunga Hastings City Art Gallery’s mission in presenting this exhibition is to bring an engaging, enriching and inspirational contemporary art experience to the community, Mr Gibson said.

“We are pleased to present to our communities  this snapshot of Hawke’s Bays creativity; a visual diary recording some of the region’s most exciting artwork from 2020.”

The selected artists are: Gillian Appleby, Peter Baker, Kay Bazzard, Lizzie Beere, Mauricio Benega , Wellesley Binding, Amanda Blewett, Jo Blogg, Richard Boyd-Dunlop, Kathy Boyle, Richard Brimer, Scott Brough, Linda Bruce, Annette Bull, Maiken Calkoen, Anthony Chiappin, Marion Courtille, Brad Donovan, John Eaden, Leslie Falls, Lisa Feyen, Jane Gray, David Guerin, Tony Harrington, Michael Hawksworth, Andy Heyward, Rangituhia Hollis, Cap Jacobs, Anna Jepson, Asaki Kajima, Justin Kite, Chika Lindsay, Susan Mabin, Leah Marshall, Kaye McGarva, Cinzah Merkens, Tracey Morgan, Gaeleen Morley, Leanne Morrison, Clare Plug, John Ruth, Ken Sando, Ema Scott, Dali Susanto, Paula Taaffe, Ricks Terstappen, David Trubridge, Nic Tucker, Patrick Tyman, Suzanne Vesty, Putaanga Waitoa, Lee Warren, Rae West, Bernie Winkels.

The exhibition will run from November 21 to February 28.

Photo: Wellesley Binding's piece 3 Studies for the Island (Red Poles), 2020.

9 September 2020

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