Marie Le Lievre
God jar
11 September- 5 October, 2019
11 September 2019 - 5 October 2019
God Jar, Marie Le Lievre's fifth solo exhibition in the gallery, speaks to the artist's approach to her art. Here we see hard worked, deeply layered surfaces, with painting, drawing and even photography colliding, colluding and collapsing into and out of each other. Two painted photographs, showing the artist lying in the yoga corpse pose relaxed and fully alert, signal the creative process and her approach to artmaking - channelling her disciplined practice, her education, her life experience.

For Marie, art at its best offers a perfect harmonious state of flow. The God Jar plays an integral and critical role, gathering and holding all thoughts - all hopes and fears - so that they don't disrupt the process. While the approach is reminiscent of Max Gimblett's oft quoted line about painting being 'all mind no mind', the result is of a very different sensibility. Rather than dramatic gesture, these slowly made works, with layers built up over time portray feeling, if that were possible, and present in the first instance as objects of sensual experience.

Materially and metaphorically they play with the tension between flow and stricture, chaos and order. The artist is the choreographer through whom motion and feeling flow; she conceives and controls while allowing her media to perform.

In this exhibition, we see new notes appearing alongside the more familiar long-running themes. In the (Notes) works, charcoal 'notes' are densely inscribed on the oil, scarifying the surface, creating a deep intensity.

Marie has been attracting a lot of attention in recent years. Two years ago she made it onto the covers of Art News New Zealand and New Zealand's arts and literature magazine Tahake, at the same time, as well as being dubbed an artist to watch by Home NZ magazine. Her last two showings with the gallery have been sell-out successes.

Installation view 4
Installation view 4
Orange (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and charcoal on canvas
1000 x 1000mm
Orange (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and charcoal on canvas
1000 x 1000mm
Fixers (Tray) Paraphernalia
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil, graphite and charcoal on canvas
910 x 910 mm
Fixers (Tray) Paraphernalia
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil, graphite and charcoal on canvas
910 x 910 mm
Cage (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
500 x500 mm
Cage (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
500 x500 mm
Clinic (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and charcoal on canvas
760 x 760 mm
Clinic (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and charcoal on canvas
760 x 760 mm
Installation view 1
Installation view 1
Installation view 3
Installation view 3
Minx's (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil, graphite and charcoal on canvas
910 x 910 mm
Minx's (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil, graphite and charcoal on canvas
910 x 910 mm
Card players (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
500 x500 mm
Card players (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
500 x500 mm
God Jar
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil, graphite and charcoal on canvas
1000 x 1000mm
God Jar
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil, graphite and charcoal on canvas
1000 x 1000mm
Installation view 2
Installation view 2
Day Scope (God Jar)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on ink jet
200x260mm
Day Scope (God Jar)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on ink jet
200x260mm
Flight Plan (God Jar)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on ink jet
200x260mm
Flight Plan (God Jar)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on ink jet
200x260mm
Jade (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
800 x 800 mm
Jade (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
800 x 800 mm
Wayward (Tomes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
910 x 910 mm
Wayward (Tomes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
910 x 910 mm
Sage (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
500 x500 mm
Sage (Table)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
500 x500 mm
Arranging (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
300 x300 mm
Arranging (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
300 x300 mm
Rose Plans (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
300 x300 mm
Rose Plans (Notes)
2019
Marie Le Lievre
oil and graphite on canvas
300 x300 mm