Seung Yul Oh's Soom opens at the Auckland Art Gallery

Seung Yul Oh's Soom installation opened last night at the Auckland Art Gallery toi o Tamaki. Commisioned by the Gallery with support from the Chartwell Trust, the work will be on the North Sculpture Court through to 11 October 2015.
Image: Seung Yul Oh's Soom at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki

Hayward show lights up the Auckland Art Gallery

If last night's opening is anything to go by, the Auckland Art Gallery has a must-see exhibition to end the year with. The gallery's reception space was jammed with people poised to flow into the Light Show after the speeches were over.

Organised by the Hayward Gallery, the exhibition features light-based art by leading international artists including Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, Jenny Holzer, Ann Veronica Janssens and James Turrell and runs at the Gallery to 8 February 2015.
Image: Carlos Cruz-Diez's Chromosaturation

20 Freedom Farmers at the Auckland Art Gallery

Freedom Farmers: New Zealand Artists Growing Ideas opens tonight at the Auckland Art Gallery. Curated by Natasha Conland, the exhibition features commissioned artworks by 20 artists (including Martin Basher and Richard Maloy) tracing the way New Zealand artists are using ideas of utopia, sustainability and artistic freedom in their work.

New director of the Auckland Art Gallery announced

Rhana Devenport is the new director of the Auckland Art Gallery. Currently the director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, Devenport takes up her position at the end of July.
Image: Rhana Devenport

Auckland Art Gallery patrons centre stage in a suite of collection-based exhibitions

The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki is highlighting the role of patronage in collection-based exhibitions drawing on works gifted by its patrons group and the Chartwell Collection, which is on long term loan to the gallery. The shows include works by a number of Starkwhite artists: Grant Stevens features in Whiz Bang Pop; Phil Dadson, Gavin Hipkins and John Reynolds are in Partner Dance: Gifts from the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, both curated by Natasha Conland; and the evolving downstairs show Toi Aoteroa includes a new section, also curated by Conland, with works by Martin Basher, David Hatcher, Gavin Hipkins and Jae Hoon Lee.
Image: David Hatcher, The Simplest Surrealist Act (Andre Breton), 2002, silkscreen on plexiglass, 2000 x 1430 mm, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki; Gavin Hipkins, Dunedin (Landscape), from The Homely series, 1997-2000, C-type colour photograph,  600 x 400 mm collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki; Phil Dadson, Echo-Logo, 2003, DVD, 7 mins, collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.

The Auckland Art Gallery re-opens its restored and expanded building today

The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki re-opens its restored and expanded building today. Visitors entering the building will encounter Flower Chandelier, a large-scale commissioned work by Choi Jeong Hwa. Specifically designed for the Gallery's north atrium, its giant flowers inflate and deflate while LED lights in and around the blooms illuminate the artwork at night. The artist has also installed another temporary installation Red, in the reflection pool in the forecourt.

Image: Choi Jeong Hwa's Flower Chandelier at the new Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki

Promised Gift at the Auckland Art Gallery

When the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki opens again on 3 September 2011, visitors will have an eight-week opportunity to see for the first time the complete Robertson Promised Gift to the Gallery. The 15 works represent a number of major European artists of the modern era, including paintings by Matisse, Picasso and Dali.

Image: new gallery spaces at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki

Take a virtual tour of the new Auckland Art Gallery

The Auckland Art Gallery is currently under development until its re-opening in 2011. You can get a sense of what the new gallery will look like by taking this virtual tour.

Image: webcam photograph of the Auckland Art Gallery development site; virtual tour via OUTPOST, the AAG staff blog