Aotearoa Art Fair Receipts: Tarot Cards and Mussel Shells

New Zealand's leading art fair changed venues under new ownership this year. How did it go?

There's a one-armed hug you sometimes see at art openings. It's the embrace of two people who want to seem friendly but haven't yet decided that they're friends. That was the feeling at the first Aotearoa Art Fair under new owner Tim Etchells as galleries and visitors waited to see how the event would unfold.

This year, 35 galleries are taking part in the fair, which runs from 18 to 21 April at Auckland's Viaduct Events Centre. That's down from 40 at The Cloud in March last year when the fair was owned by North Port Events.

Despite James Wallace making an appearance about as auspicious as a dead albatross, galleries from Aotearoa New Zealand presented fabulous works by many of the country's leading artists. Six galleries also joined from across the ditch in Australia, while Bergman Gallery, which has spaces in Rarotonga and Auckland, showcased artists from the Pacific.

The booth that drew in the most visitors on opening day was a co-production by Christchurch's Jonathan Smart Gallery and Emily Gardener Projects. It featured '[Head]case' ceramic sculptures (up to N.Z. $9,000) by the wonderfully witchy Julia Morison, who also orchestrated live tarot readings using limited edition packs of cards that feature her paintings.

Auckland's Föenander Galleries also offered an interactive experience, with visitors welcome to try on fragile ceramic helmets created by Sung Hwan Bobby Park in response to the vulnerability he felt as a queer artist performing military service in South Korea.

Gow Langsford, who recently launched a new Onehunga flagship, had a booth that stretched across the venue's back wall in three parts: Gregor Kregar's steel sculpture Infinite Loop (2024) (N.Z. $120,000) wiggled before coloured tube lights; American painter Julian Schnabel's 274 cm-tall Portrait of José Luis Ferrer (1997) (N.Z. $850,000) loomed over the fair with a high gloss finish that daringly dribbled to a halt two thirds of the way down the painting; and several of the gallery's artists presented new works in a mini group show responding to Frances Hodgkins' teetering Still Life in front of Courtyard (1930).

Starkwhite, which has spaces in Auckland and Queenstown, found buyers for artists across its roster, including an astonishing photograph of a highway that seems to take off into the night sky by Australian artist Bill Henson (N.Z. $62,000) and a giant taxidermy kākāpo photographed in profile by Fiona Pardington (N.Z. $25,000). Another highlight was a sumptuous oil-on-board still life, Satyr with Black and Orange (2024) by Australian painter Michael Zavros (N.Z. $16,000), that depicts grapes spilling down from a goblet between iridescent shells positioned like rams' horns.

Other standouts included delectably greasy Judy Millar paintings at Michael Lett and plastic bottles transformed to stone by alchemist-sculptor Joe Sheehan at Tim Melville Gallery.

Upstairs, where the polished concrete floors below were replaced by multicoloured carpet that wouldn't be out of place in an airport lounge, Gow Langsford and Starkwhite showed works on paper in bonus booths.

The upstairs area also featured the five galleries in the fair's Young section, whose presentations were just as engaging as the more established galleries.

Comprising cinematic black-to-front paintings (painted using reflective paints on a black base) by Hamish Coleman, Gen-Z-coded lavender steel furniture by Gerard Dombroski, and jewellery by Jennifer Laracy, the booth by Auckland's Season gallery was more than cohesive—it was a mood.

Wellington gallery Envy's booth was likewise transporting, thanks largely to Dr P's Breakfast With Broodthaers (2023), selling for N.Z. $7,500.

The mixed media installation of fishbones and shellfish on steel and aluminium kitchenware—including a pot of mussel shells trapped mid-explosion and a tray of chemically-fixed bread rolls—painted a portrait of a harbour dweller surviving on kaimoana and copies of the New Zealand Herald.

The first edition of the Aotearoa Art Fair under its new owner wasn't the biggest, and the most expensive works—the Schnabel at Gow Langsford and a similarly priced Gordon Walters painting at Starkwhite—didn't find buyers. But galleries did make sales and were complementary of the venue and the VIP programme that brought in engaged collectors. For visitors, there was more than enough to enjoy, even for those with Gollum-esque appetites. —[O]