Celebrating array of artistic talent

Each year, the Alpine Energy Art Awards and Annual South Canterbury Art Society Exhibition are an opportunity to celebrate the array of artistic talents in our region.

Timaru-born artist Diana Peneamene is a skilled artist, working across a variety of printing and painting methods. Much of her work focuses on human figures – often people she encounters by chance. Peneamene keeps a sketchbook on hand for such encounters, using the quick drawings she makes as the basis for her final works.

In each, the postures, garments and activities of her sitters are carefully observed, and then captured as permanent images within a moment in time, their subtle expressions acknowledged and depicted on canvas when they might have otherwise been passed by unnoticed.

In Incognito, Peneamene turns this gaze back on herself. A painter standing before a canvas, their paintbrush poised about to make their next mark, Peneamene is captured in the act of close observation, in translating what she sees into an image. The choice to depict oneself ‘‘at work’’ is a common one among artists who create self-portraits, forming a feedback loop between artistic expression and self-expression, and highlighting the importance of art to personal identity and selfhood.

James Hope, curator of the Ashburton Art Gallery was the judge for this year’s Alpine Art Awards and awarded Incognito first place for painting in oil. Incognito will be on display alongside 180 works from other local artists at the Aigantighe Art Gallery until December 11.