Art and religion have been intertwined since the first glimmerings of human history but in
New Zealand - somehow despite our Missionary colonialist connections, any major survey
of the visual arts in this genre has been entirely minimal.

Within such a breadth of subject perhaps most curators have been intimidated to touch a
deeply emotive and controversial subject. Several key artworks in the Whangarei Art
Museum collection have become a touchstone to inspire this selective survey of how artists
have evolved a response to the spiritual realm from the early 20th Century to today. From L.J.
Steele and Charles F. Goldie to Max Gimblett and Whangarei artist Starr Gossage this is a
brave, luminous, and at times very controversial exploration of how artists have responded
and dissected Faith in their art.

From traditional Christian imagery to the Maori spiritual renaissance of the 1950s of which
the Northern Maori Project was a partial catalyst, this substantial exhibition explores a series
of contiguous thematic groups of works throughout; from Greek Mythology to Maori
Spirituality, as well as Buddhism, Baha’i and Hindu. Each of the artists involved reflect a new
Aotearoa emerging from the monoculture of early Missionary values towards a new
inclusive Christianity and a nation of many religions.

There are truly ethereal works in this show from Reuben Paterson’s shimmering glitter and
light installation In Your Own Time Tane (2003) to David Trubridge’s most recent luminous
floating light installation Icarus Hanging Lamp.

A pivotal work will be a ‘homecoming journey’ for Colin McCahon’s ‘Venus and Re-entry:
The Bleeding Heart of Jesus is Seen Above Ahipara” (1970-71), Te Manawa Museums Trust.
The exhibition is almost a Hollywood Biblical blockbuster! With a stellar cast list of New
Zealand artists. Among the celebrity list of New Zealand’s art elite are two powerful
paintings by Philip Clairmont which have never been shown publically in his lifetime or since.
The exhibition also includes major works by L.J. Steele $ Charles F. Goldie, Tony Fomison,
Colin McCahon, Michael Illingworth, Edward Bullmore and Kura Te Waru Rewiri, Jeffrey
Harris, Robert Ellis and Robin White and includes photography; ceramics; painting;
installation and moving image; sculpture and lightbox works and printmaking.

It has been said that Art Museums are the new urban cathedrals of the 21st century. This is
an exhibition with gravitas, wit and disturbing angst as…
‘‘…we have grown accustomed to associating the rise of the museum with the decline
of organised religion as a source of individual meaning and social cohesion. Art and culture
have become new sources of spirituality in the West…art museums are the cathedrals of our
time.’ (Andrew McClellan, (2002), From Boullee to Bilbao (in ref to the publication
Cathedrals of Urban Modernity: The 1st Museums of Contemporary Art 1800-1930 published
in 1999)

Other artists include, Ralph Hotere, Edward Bullmore, Buck Nin, Sandy Adsett, Alexis Hunter, Darcy Nicholas,
Julia Morrison, Anna Starr, Mathew Couper, Prakash Patel, Anne Nobel, Shigeyuki Kihara, Margaret
Thompson, May Smith, Jeffrey Harris, Nigel Brown, Tony Lane, Garth Tapper, David Sarich, Shahriar Asdollahzadeh,
John Reynolds, Janet Green, Grant Bareon, Heather Straka, Jim Allen , Louis White, Laurence
Aberhart, Adele Younghusband, Scott McFarlane, Ellen Smith, Buck Nin and Jin Ling.
Scheduled for November 2010 to January 2011 the exhibition coincides with Christmas and
other religious celebrations and focuses on iconoclastic imagery and exploration of the
metaphysical in New Zealand art in the early 20th – 21st centuries.

“[N]o one can stand unmoved in these solitudes, without feeling that there is more in
man than the mere breath of his body.” (Charles Darwin 1866 HMS Beagle in the Pacific)
Research today into the neurology and genetics of spirituality and religion are among the bravest
frontiers of new scientific navigation. New Zealand artists and theologians like Lloyd Geering and
Prof. Paul Morris have led the way for many years. Much like human sexuality the subject is fraught
with almost rabid sensitivities and embedded cultural values. Yet artists have long been at the
forefront of questioning of Faith by interrogating and dissecting personal and collective values – on
the quest for what it is to lead a fully realised and fulfilling human life.

Our dual and rather paradoxical history as a colonial nation has evolved from the ‘unholy’ escapees
of late Georgian and Victorian society; the whalers and flax-traders that made Kororareka the ‘hellhole’
of the Pacific; and the London Missionary Society whose stoic values still pervade contemporary
kiwi’s sense of self. Our art history of the past 200 years has also reflected this polarity of
perspective. Artists have long sought the elusive path between creative genius/ego and an existential
awareness/empathy.

Unbeknown to most for too long, an almost seamless integration of daily life, art and spirituality had
existed in Aotearoa for a thousand years already!
Many contemporary artists in Aotearoa/New Zealand have evolved a more inclusive spirituality in
their work reflecting the new neurological and psychological research, just as their predecessors
anguished over Darwin, Jung and Freud. From Colin McCahon to Lois White, Adele Younghusband
and Rita Angus this was also mixed with deep-seated concerns for the horror of two World Wars.
For others like Tony Fomison, Philip Clairmont, Michael Illingworth and Max Gimblett there were
new social realms and religions to impact on their work.

These stories revolve around some key loans from Waikato Museum, Auckland Art Gallery,
the University of Auckland collection and Te Manawa, Tauranga Art Gallery, Rotorua
Museum and the art museum’s own collection as well as corporate loans from Fletcher
Trust, Rutherford Trust, The Wallace Trust and artist collections and private lenders.

Disclaimer: Some content portrayed in the artworks maybe religiously controversial
Image Credits: Shahriar Asdollah-Zadeh, Faith, 2009, artist collection; Anna Starr, Through the Looking Glass,
2009, C-Type Print, artists collection; Charles F Goldie, Martyrdom of St Stephen, c1900, oil on canvas, private
collection.; Reuben Paterson, In Your Own Time Tane (detail) 2003, mixed media installation.