Berlin-based artist showing in NP
After spending months in and out of Europe’s lockdowns, Harry Edwards and his Kiwi partner made the call to come back to New Zealand for a break.
Now, the UK artist is putting his work on display for Taranaki to see.
Edwards and his New Plymouth partner, Abbey Looker, flew in from Berlin during January, and he has been painting his ‘‘abstract’’ work ever since.
‘‘Abbey hadn’t seen her family for two years,’’ the 27-year-old said. ‘‘And we wanted to escape Covid winter.’’
The pair, who met in Taranaki at a wedding four years ago, had been living in London before moving to Berlin in August 2019.
Six months later, ‘‘everything erupted’’ in Germany.
Edwards said the country had been ‘‘very quick to put in restrictions, do the lockdowns’’, but it hadn’t helped much.
‘‘It’s been in and out of lockdowns since March [2020].’’
They went through times when they were limited to how much they could leave their apartment and their work slowed.
And now they’re in New Zealand, Germany is going through the ‘‘strictest’’ lockdown yet, Edwards said, with curfews, limits on how many people they can see at once, and workers requiring a test every three days.
‘‘Life isn’t very happy over there. It makes sense for us to be here.’’
Edwards studied art at university, but followed a music path when he finished up and didn’t paint for a couple of years.
He got back into it when he was in Berlin, and held a couple of exhibitions but everything he created is still there.
So, all the art Edwards will have on display has been produced in his time in New Zealand, and this will be his first time showing his art in a different country.
His exhibition is called ‘Happiness Comes in Waves’ and the work will be on show at Bleached – Coffee and Company in Devon St West from 5pm tomorrow.
It will be the first time the space has been used for an exhibition, but won’t be the last, Edwards said.
He said nature inspires a lot of his work, and being around the sea has had a big impact on his ‘‘energy focused’’ art – and he’s looking forward to showing it off. ‘‘I always thought there was quite a cool little art scene in New Plymouth.’’