Penelope Jackson, BOP Times, Arts Diary, 7 April 2004
Hang it, four out of five not bad for Henzell
Fabricated Rooms
by Jane Henzell
pg 74 First Ave .
I applaud anyone for venturing into the dealer gallery market in Tauranga. George Perry brings to Tauranga a new ingredient to the fine arts circle.
Jane Henzell's exhibition is small, consisting of just five works. They are large paintings and four out of five are executed on large panels of PVC. More space would have made the viewing experience easier and more enjoyable.
The paintings hang from wooden moldings fixing them to a secure hanging device alluding to the interior décor, for they resemble colonial skirting boards. In some cases Henzell's paint spills over from the PVC onto the framing device. Additionally, the molded wooden hanging devices are reminiscent of tradional picture frames.
Fabricated Rooms (2003) explores the themes of flowers – Henzell has a penchant for early New Zealand flower painting. This has been her inspiration and yet the result is far from the trite and controlled small flower traditional (feamale) flower paintings from days gone by.
Henzell also includes, and draws on the traditions of Pacifica patterns. The results are colourful and exuberant paintings that teetering on sculpture. The nature of PVC means that it does not hang flat against the wall surface, giving the effect, with good lighting, of an interesting play of shadows. This is a bonus dimension to the works.
Untitled , (three panels on board) does not fit with the other four works. It is from an earlier period (2001) and, even though it draws on flowers for its subject, it is stylistically different.
Individually the work should have been given more space instead of being placed next to rack of clothes (this is a temporary exhibition space for George Perry, who will soon relocate to their own gallery in Devonport Road).
Henzell's works are avant-garde and refreshing to see in Tauranga. However, we are not the first to see Fabricated Rooms, as Henzell has exhibited it both at the Snow White Gallery, UNITEC and SOCA in Auckland.
The supplied information sheet positions them in “Auckland's suburban visual culture”. Why not Tauranga's visual culture?
Perhaps in time, with the emergence of dealer galleries and the public art gallery, these types of exhibitions will stretch our artistic taste buds and will outnumber all those representational renderings of the Mount.