Current Exhibition
May 2024 - TIME - group exhibition
For May 2025, ZIMMERMAN is delighted to present TIME - a group exhibition marking the gallery's 15th anniversary.
An exhibition commentary and work details are set out under the images below.
Gallery open hours are 11am to 3pm Thursday to Sunday - come take a look!
Exhibition commentary
The eclectic works gathered for this exhibition feature paintings on canvas and board, small freestanding textile sculptures, and wall-mounted works in ceramic, textile and steel - each work responding, in its own way, to the shared theme of TIME.
Anna Korver’s contribution is Flight Path: an installation of 18 painted steel darts.
“For me the darts represent a connection to childhood, through the game of paper planes which, as it turns out, is universal. The darts are about sending out a wish, not knowing where it will land, or where life will take us.”
The unexpected path that life can take is also reflected in Brett a’Court’s oil painting on woollen blanket, Kuīni. It draws on the true story of Caroline Perrett, an eight-year-old European girl who, in 1874, was kidnapped by a band of dispossessed Māori seeking utu.
“Adopted by the Māori tribe, she bore the name Kuīni for fifty years, during which she forgot her original name. She was recognised in 1926 (55 years later) by her niece, while standing with a group of Māori women in the main street of Whakatāne. Caroline chose to remain with her Māori husband, children and relatives.”
Blue Hour by Cam Munroe invites us to spend time contemplating an assemblage of enigmatic symbols. The painting is inspired by “the tranquil yet mysterious atmosphere of twilight … the fleeting moments between day and night”.
Day by Day by Fran Dibble represents time and change, with the reworking of a painting first exhibited in 2022. Originally blazing with the bright colours of summer, the formerly fierce red nasturtiums are now diffused with cool green hues. The wild garden bed - with all its flamboyant disorder - is now sectioned into squares, as if to suggest the different light on different days.
Ian Chapman’s painting, Awaiting Breakfast, recalls the mealtime often considered to be the most important of the day – a fairy-winged child and long-nosed dog expectantly wait for the call to come and eat.
Orchid Orbital in the Eternal Now by Jennifer Baker is inspired by - and a reworking of - Time Door Time D’Or by American pop artist James Rosenquist. Jennifer came across Rosenquist’s work in a book, shortly after she had been reading Samantha Harvey’s novella Orbital.
“Orchids, which in Ancient Greece symbolised virility, are one of earth’s oldest known flowers. Here, the orchids are set in space, a juxtaposition that redefines the term ‘ancient’, and completely subverts our rationalising comprehension of time. Conscious of the human desire to allocate meaning to existence within ‘eternity’, this work is a meditation on both the indefinable and the inexorable nature of time.”
Turn Back Time by Kirsty Gardiner recalls a scene from New Zealand’s history; a plump huia nests, encircled by a verdant blossoming forest. But this paradisal world was not to last, its passing and the desire to return to it suggested by the faux clockface framing the otherwise idyllic scene.
The fun and fantastical works of textile artist Michele Irving draw inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit (who’s always late), and the children’s game “What’s the Time Mr Wolf?”
A wall-hung work finds White Rabbit fast asleep, oblivious to the chimes of the cuckoo-clock above his bed, while a waistcoated White Rabbit anxiously pulls out his pocket watch.
Mr Wolf makes more productive use of his daylight hours, stirring up culinary treats in Baking Time and giving a spectacular performance in Magic Time – a wand in one paw, and a top hat (complete with a conjured-up rabbit) in the other.
Meanwhile, leaping breezily across the wall is Time Flies - a flying feline, sprting a hot-pink wristwatch.
A cheeky oil painting by Paula Clare King, my first protest, recalls “that time Sister Gerard told us girls weren’t allowed to do handstands at school”. A defiant schoolgirl kicks up her legs, assuming the forbidden upside-down pose.
Rounding out the exhibition are four small paintings by Tony Rumball, each depicting a runner or rugby player in his own race against time.
Work details
Anna Korver
Flight Path, steel & paint render, free-form installation of 18 darts, 1350 x 400 mm
Brett a’Court
Kuīni, oil on woollen blanket, 255 x 205mm
Cam Munroe
Blue Hour, acrylic & oil on canvas, 785 x 785 mm (framed size)
Fran Dibble
Day by Day, oil paint on board, 595 x 495 mm
Ian Chapman
Awaiting Breakfast, oil on canvas, 910 x 610 mm
Jennifer Baker
Orchid Orbital in the Eternal Now, oil on wood panel, 400 x 350 mm
Kirsty Gardiner
Turn Back Time, mixed media, 255 x 205 mm
Michele Irving
- What’s the Time Mr Wolf? - Baking Time, freestanding textile, 160 x 50 x 130 mm
- Am I late? - White Rabbit, freestanding textile, 160 x 90 x 70 mm
- What’s the Time Mr Wolf? - Magic Time, freestanding textile, 170 x 90 x 130 mm
- Tick Tock - the White Rabbit Slept Late, wall-hung textile, 210 x 170 mm
- Time Flies – Flying Feline, wall-hung textile, 160 x 220 mm
Paula Clare King
my first protest, oil on board, 830 x 630 mm (framed size)
Tony Rumball
- A Personal Best, acrylic & ink on canvas, 410 x 300 mm
- Oldtimer, acrylic & ink on canvas, 410 x 300 mm
- Running Down the Clock, acrylic & ink on canvas, 410 x 300 mm
- Time to Step Up, acrylic & ink on canvas, 410 x 300 mm