Nostalgic and kitsch artwork

Each year the Aigantighe Art Gallery mounts a range of exhibitions in its spaces, bringing a range of both contemporary and historical art to the South Canterbury public.

In addition to these ever-changing installations, the gallery is also constantly expanding its permanent collection of artworks, which has been growing since the Aigantighe’s opening in 1956.

While these works are safely stored in between exhibitions, new acquisitions are regularly displayed on the first floor of the Timaru District Council building in the lounge outside the meeting chambers for public viewing.

A new artwork has recently been acquired for the permanent collection, by contemporary painter Saskia Leek, called Early Telepaths Later (Slopes #7), and is installed in this space at the council.

Leek was born in Christchurch in 1970 and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in her home city at the Ilam School of Fine Art in 1991.

A few years after graduating, Leek was included in a travelling group show titled ‘‘Hangover’’ alongside several other young artists.

The show brought Leek popular and critical success, and she has since developed into one of New Zealand’s most respected artists with works collected by institutions nationwide, and nominations for some of the country’s most prestigious art prizes.

She is known for her small but colourful paintings, which adopt a nostalgic and kitsch aesthetic.

Many of her works use second-hand, opshop-sourced paintings and prints as their base; Leek responds to the existing images by painting over them, often using slightly translucent paint through which the original picture is still vaguely visible.

This process has developed from the artist’s interest in overlooked and outmoded cultural objects, rather than fine art or commercial imagery.

Early Telepaths Later (Slopes #7) is an example of this approach. At approximately 58cm x 47cm, it is a small painting which, through the use of contrasting fluorescent colours, creates a frame-within-a-frame effect. These qualities generate a sensation of peering into the image, establishing intimacy between the work and its viewer.