Brent Harris Peaks (In Praise of Hands), 2019. On loan from a private collection, Auckland, © the artist
Photo Credit
Brent Harris, 'Peaks (the other side)', 2019 oil on linen, collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Photo Credit
Brent Harris creates haunting imagery that is often charged with an emotional intensity. Over a career of more than 40 years, Harris has developed a significant body of work that addresses universal concerns such as desire, sexuality, familial relationships, mortality, identity, and spirituality.
Born in Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand in 1956, Harris moved to Melbourne in 1981 to study at the Victorian College of the Arts and he has lived there ever since. In 2016, following the death of his father, he felt able to return to his country of birth after an absence of several decades. It was an episode in his life that resulted in an intense period of artistic production.
Brent Harris: The Other Side, guest curated by Jane Devery, is the first major survey exhibition of the artist’s work to be held in Aotearoa New Zealand. The exhibition comprises over 40 paintings and drawings selected from Harris’s most important series dating from the late 1980s to the present. It includes recent paintings that reflect the artist’s reconnection with Aotearoa as well as works that pay homage to local artists Colin McCahon and Gordon Walters.
Brent Harris: The Other Side is supported by the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation.
Brent Harris creates haunting imagery that is often charged with an emotional intensity. Over a career of more than 40 years, Harris has developed a significant body of work that addresses universal concerns such as desire, sexuality, familial relationships, mortality, identity, and spirituality.
Born in Palmerston North, Aotearoa New Zealand in 1956, Harris moved to Melbourne in 1981 to study at the Victorian College of the Arts and he has lived there ever since. In 2016, following the death of his father, he felt able to return to his country of birth after an absence of several decades. It was an episode in his life that resulted in an intense period of artistic production.
Brent Harris: The Other Side, guest curated by Jane Devery, is the first major survey exhibition of the artist’s work to be held in Aotearoa New Zealand. The exhibition comprises over 40 paintings and drawings selected from Harris’s most important series dating from the late 1980s to the present. It includes recent paintings that reflect the artist’s reconnection with Aotearoa as well as works that pay homage to local artists Colin McCahon and Gordon Walters.
Brent Harris: The Other Side is supported by the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation.
