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TE URU WAITAKERE CONTEMPORARY GALLERY

“Too much to see.” It’s a complaint shared by many who find themselves overwhelmed by the number of paintings displayed in touring exhibitions. However, it’s not the number of paintings that will take your breath away at A Way Through at Titirangi’s Te Uru — the exhibition is literally a onepainting show — it’s the scale.

As part of the Colin Mccahon centenary year, his 1970 mural, Gate III, is displayed in Auckland for the first time since it was commissioned for Auckland City Art Gallery’s Ten Big Paintings in 1971. And big it is.

At 10m long, Gate III draws on a combination of west coast views, rural landscapes and religious texts. It returns to the “I Am” motif Mccahon first painted while living in Titirangi in the 1950s and anticipates the grand works he would paint from his new studio in Muriwai. While contemporary artists may rail over climate change, Gate III is Mccahon’s urgent address about the nuclear threat and humanity’s indefatigable and selfcentred quest for power. It’s a message still resonating today. — Dionne Christian

A Way Through, Colin Mccahon’s Gate III, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery from today until Sunday, October 20.