GRANT TAKLE – AFTER SHOCK – 20 July-14 Aug, 2020
ARTIST STATEMENT – Shock after shock
Grant Takle
Critiquing our society, Takle grapples with tough topics, seeking to illuminate social and political realities.
‘This group of works is a response to Christchurch and its ongoing calamities. It draws from the psychological and sociological forces experienced in the aftermath of two of New Zealand’s most devastating disasters. The 2010 Christchurch earthquake and aftershocks followed by the terrorist mosque shootings on 15th March 2019.
The attempt to make sense of these calamities, to process the chaos and confusion, offered nothing in explanation, rationale or deed that proved satisfactory. The empathy experienced through this time of crises grew and enveloped those in the community and the rippling upheaval was experienced by the rest of New Zealand.
It is in this space where art has the ability to encapsulate some of the issues and tensions exposed by such large and fundamentally life changing events.
This exhibition is a conglomeration of imagery and symbolism developed in acknowledgement of the emotional trauma and change of those affected. These works deal with Christchurch’s recent history using iconography and repeated media chants framed in a discourse of cause and effect.
In these works I use paint’s ability to conceal and reveal, within the framed undulating patterns and undercurrents of radiating images, some of what our community was exposed to. Paint allows a fluid ever changing confluence of media and idea. Melded within the painting process, the liquid solidifies into a scaffold of echoing patterns locking each image into the bigger picture.’
Grant Takle was born in Christchurch, 1962, and studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, Canterbury University, completing a Diploma of Fine Arts (painting) in 1983. Through his early career he received numerous awards and much critical success. His work is held in the collections of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Aigantighe Art Gallery, Canterbury University, Manawatu Art Gallery, Westpac Trust and Wallace Charitable Arts Trust.
Working in both painting and sculpture his work is both edgy and inventive, often incorporating humour with a dark twist. Takle’s art practice was interrupted by the Christchurch earthquakes (2011-2013). AFTER SHOCK marks his first solo exhibition since 2008.