Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Deep Roots, Tall Poppies - a new exhibition of works by Katherine Throne.

Bringing a fresh and unique perspective to her floral paintings, Katherine Throne chooses to depict flowers growing in her Wanaka garden, and those she finds nearby. Each and every bloom she depicts has gone through the exigencies of the Central Otago climate with its cycles of deep and bitter frost in winter; through the parching drought and unrelenting heat of the summer: a kind of metaphor for the human journey.

Not just deep roots, but plenty of mulch is needed to keep plants alive in this environment. In this exhibition, Throne ventures into still-life, subverting the conventions of the genre. These works convey subtle suggestions about the need to celebrate individuality and buck against prescribed behaviour.

These casual arrangements are a nod to the mid-twentieth century women artists who pioneered working with floral motifs experimentally. A frequently reproduced photograph of Doris Lusk seated in the studio which she shared with other women artists shows her dressed formally for the opening of her first solo exhibition in 1940. What has always struck me is that the perimeter of the room displays not just Lusk’s paintings, but a dozen or so of her floral arrangements, a remarkable achievement for Dunedin in August. It is possible to read this as a declaration of the importance of gardening and floristry skills, where spring blossom and branches create compositions for vases just as oil pigments and brushes are used to compose paintings. In tune with this approach, Throne describes the arrangements she does for her home in winter as giving her garden a fifth season, indoors.

Read the full essay by Dr. Linda Tyler here.

To request a catalogue please email info@sanderson.co.nz