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!

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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

June 2024 - EXTRA TIME - a group exhibition

For June 2025, ZIMMERMAN is delighted to present EXTRA TIME.

Expanding on the theme of last month's feature show, TIME, this month's exhibition introduces new works - each bringing a fresh perspective to the shared theme of TIME. 

A commentary on each of the new works, and work details, are set out under the images below.

Gallery open hours are 11am to 3pm Thursday to Sunday - come take a look!

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Commentary on the new works

Waiting for Time to Pass is one of the last works released by the late Paul Dibble – the bronze sculpture in this month’s exhibition being the model-sized study of a larger work.

From a longstanding series Paul dubbed “the geometrics”, the human form is redefined as simple geometric shapes – legs become cones, and heads are abbreviated to spheres, to create a nuanced sense of gesture. The figure in Waiting for Time to Pass, with her crossed arms and straightened back, suggests some endurance is required to reach the moment for which she waits.

Two paintings by Naga Tsutsumi reflect the artist’s enthusiasm for sci-fi while exploring the passing of time.

In the background of Time and Again is a local icon, the Palmerston North Clock Tower, depicted here in the form it took some decades ago, before a cross and lantern section were added to the top. In the foreground stands a time-weary figure, with white beard and walking cane, while above his head a spaceman floats in the clouds. The central figure is cloaked in ambiguity – does he represent past, present or future? Or might he be the personification of time itself - Father Time, that well known character across cultures around the world, manifested here in a distinctively Manawatu setting? Whatever his identity, the figure appears centrally positioned between an historical feature and an astronaut – standing as an intermediary between time past and a future yet to be explored.

A second painting by Naga, The Wrong Destination, shifts gears from the philosophical to the fantastical. A time machine hovers above a sunbathing cat, the outstretched feline untroubled by either the time travelling machine whirring above its exposed belly, or the peculiar rabbit by its side.

To the Unknown is a hand-forged steel sculpture by Sebastien Jaunas. The freestanding work, with its concentric swirls and radiating rays, suggests a portal; a virtual gateway or tunnel, from which we could pass from one place in spacetime to another. The sculpture is part of a continuing series of works by the Kapiti Coast-based artist, exploring equilibrium, space and movement.

By our Forefathers’ Hands by Bruce Luxford reflects on the spread over time of material affluence from urban to rural environments, and the resultant impact on the natural landscape. In the foreground of the painting is a thatched wooden shack; a simple building, but one able to serve the needs of those clearing the forest and working the land. Rising ominously in the background, just beyond a thinning stand of trees, is an imposing brutalist structure. The bold geometric forms and futuristic architecture are suggestive of how the aesthetics and technologies of the current age are now replacing the ways of the past. 

The time intensive and almost meditative act of knitting – in which the project progresses slowly, stitch by stitch – is reflected in Mia Hamilton’s ink drawing, I knit therefore I am. Every hand drawn “stitch” in the work - like every second that passes - is never quite the same. The work is a testament to the value of each moment, the irregular beauty of objects made by hand, and the rewarding results that can flow from time spent on even simple repeated activities.

Time out for coffee can be a great way of escaping from the daily grind, taking a quiet moment to stop, relax and contemplate the world around us. Coffee and Cumulus Clouds by Matthew Steedman conveys this sense of time out and serenity, with cotton-like clouds floating behind a café-style coffee cup. Yet the sense of ease and enjoyment portrayed in this scene belies the time and labour-intensive process behind the creation of a large work such as this, in which each small pixelated square was meticulously painted by hand by the artist, one pixel at a time.  

Work details

Paul Dibble

Waiting for Time to Pass model, bronze, edition of 10, 660 x 190 mm  

Naga Tsutsumi

Time and Again, acrylic on paper mounted on board, 420 x 300 mm
The Wrong Destination, acrylic on paper mounted on board, 215 x 265 mm 

Sebastien Jaunas

To the Unknown, hand-forged steel, 620 x 600 x 300 mm

Bruce Luxford 

By our Forefathers' Hands, acrylic on canvas, 510 x 510 mm 

Mia Hamilton

I knit therefore I am, ink on paper, 780 x 760 mm (framed size)

Matthew Steedman

Coffee and Cumulus Clouds, oil on canvas, 1000 x 1000 mm