We’re all excited because this Friday is the first exhibition of 2017 at endemicworld! “Golden Summer” is a joint show by New Zealand illustrators Greg Straight & Ross Murray and proudly brought to you by the good people at TipTop, L&P, ETA and Garage Project.
Fellas, can you tell us about the theme of the show?
The show is essentially a celebration of the New Zealand summer. It features some recurring imagery: dairies, beaches, vintage advertising, Cortinas, Kingswoods and plenty of sun-baked landscapes. The overall tone is very nostalgic. Greg’s work has a beautiful simplicity to it which, in a way, symbolises the rose-tinted memories of our youth. And my work focuses on the idea of the summer road trip and how modern ideas of nostalgia are often linked to the things we consume. We both set out to make our artwork really evocative; so while a lot of the locations are imagined, they feel super familiar.
Ross, describe your favourite NZ summer memory?
My favourite NZ summer is a combination of 2 or 3 summers at Opoutere in the Coromandel where I lived about ten years ago. Collecting tuatua and making fritters soaked in freshly squeezed lemon juice; that lovely long beach, completely empty except for the dotterels and oystercatchers; shady walks through the pines; driving to the local orchard to buy stone fruit and Frujus; watching the kaka fly north in the morning and return south at night; and bobbing in the surf at dusk with the bronze whalers.
So join us for a cold one on Friday for “Golden Summer”.
Opens 5pm, 62 Ponsonby Road. All welcome : – )
Facebook Event Page.
Browse more art by Ross Murray.
Browse more art by Greg Straight.
