Thursday, September 06, 2007

The catalogue (and the gallery) with the hole in the middle


This catalogue from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery can be added to the growing pile of work produced by Justin Paton. This time he is alongside the Hocken’s Linda Tyler. With an elegantly cut-out cover in signature purple, a hole that burrows through the first twelve pages, and another 60 full colour pages behind that, this is an impressive publication and another nifty design job by Karina McLeod. If Rohan contributed nothing else to New Zealand culture (he has and will), "Horrorgami" will do just fine. Justin is about to leave the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and head a little north to Christchurch. Since arriving in Dunedin he has whipped up a storm of catalogues, shows and essays including major efforts on Jeffrey Harris, Laurence Aberhart, Julia Morison, Don Peebles, Ronnie van Hout, Ricky Swallow, Daniel von Sturmer, Anne Noble – you get the picture. Priscilla Pitts and Justin Paton both leaving the gallery at the same time is a big challenge. We assume Tim Walker will be filling both positions.