As part of the Bare Rock and Backbones exhibition on at Britomart, Stanbeth House Gallery is displaying work from the involved artists in the gallery window. Currently showing are sculptures and drawings by emerging artist Aleksandra Petrovic, under the title In Dark Corners

Between 1865 and 1867, the former fort at Britomart was home to the city’s orphans – not much else is known about this period. Aleksandra Petrovic likes to focus on ‘small stories’ about people who would otherwise be forgotten. Petrovic is interested in how history is rewritten in its retelling. She puts several scenes together in her work so the viewer can make stories from them. Her figures are engaged in activities with items used in the documentation of history, such as plans, maps and diaries.

Aleksandra Petrovic says “the drawings are an expression of ideas, anxieties and questions. They subvert that fundamental human need to place everything into a cohesive order, and are instead idiosyncratic, quirky figurative images of characters who (might) have stepped out of some fairy tale.”

The artist sees the sculptures functioning in a similarly enigmatic way. Absent of any characters the tower (reading room) and the stone water-well seem to rely on the viewer filling the gaps with their own nostalgia for childhood, dreams and fairytales.

Born in 1985, Petrovic graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 2007. The artist lives and works in Auckland.

Artist: Aleksandra Petrovic
Title:In Dark Corners
Date: 2008-09
Media: Drawings: pen and ink, pencil on paper. Sculptures: pen and ink, paper, cardboard, wallpaper, balsa wood and other materials. Book: Moleskin sketchbooks with pen and ink and pencil
Dimensions: Variable, from 300 x 420mm to 850 x 300mm diameter
Commissioners: Cooper and Company and RGCFA Ltd
Curator: Rob Garrett
Project art management: RGCFA Ltd
Sponsors: Ernst & Young and Hawkins Construction
Location: Stanbeth House Gallery, Britomart, Customs Street East, Auckland CBD, New Zealand
Duration: December 2008 (ongoing)

Links:

Stanbeth House Gallery on the Britomart website…

Bare Rock & Backbones on the Britomart website…