{Suite} Gallery is thrilled to announce that Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki has acquired two major paintings by Richard Lewer for its permanent collection.
The New Zealand Disasters series is a five metre long artwork which depicts significant New Zealand disasters including Whakaari (White Island) eruption, Pike River explosion and the Napier and Christchurch earthquakes. This work was scheduled to be included in {Suite} Gallery's opening exhibition at the new gallery space in Ponsonby but will now have its inaugural showing at Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki.
The second acquisition is Last Will and Testament, a site specific artwork created for Shepparton Art Gallery in 2010, which is a copy of the artist's Will in a transparent and accountable form. The seven metre artwork, painted on pegboard is a forerunner to his Confession works and plays with the idea of usually private information being put into the public domain.