Āhua Rerekē: Curious Works from the Collection / 18 October 2025 – 22 March 2026
Category
Current Exhibitions
Glen Hayward, Canal / Periscope, 2018-2019, wood and paint. Collection of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery. Tylee residency exchange, 2023.
Āhua Rerekē
Curious works from the Collection
The collection of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery spans four and a half centuries of art history from Europe and Aotearoa New Zealand. Within that history there are many works that are curious in their narratives or use of materials. If artworks are lucky, their stories stay with them, documented and recorded for posterity. Unfortunately, sometimes those stories are lost or never known in the first place. But through time and being part of a large collection, new narratives, readings and connections evolve between works.
In this exhibition you will discover a curious range of works in a variety of media and sizes – a ceramic mandrill by Rick Rudd, two hybrid cast glass decanters by the Crystal Chain Gang, a magical feathered dog by Emily Valentine Bullock, and a spotty ceramic elbow by Ann Verdcourt. It also seems like we’ve left the remains of some form of crate in the centre of the gallery, but we assure you this intriguing sculpture by Glen Hayward has a strong connection to the heritage building. It is a faithful replica created from wood of an uninspiring behind the scenes and now demolished service duct that once occupied a rarely visited corner of the basement.
A large multipanelled work by Adrian Jackman, who was a Tylee Cottage artist-in-residence in 2012, has layers of imagery that reference his time in Whanganui. Jackman developed a palette of colours that all have local names. The structure of the block work grid is inspired by the Whanganui War Memorial Centre and the gabled form of the garage at Tylee Cottage is also featured. Perhaps the most striking part of this layering of images is a koruru figure (owl personified). Outlined in white, this form is taken from two carved book ends that arrived at Tylee Cottage in 1992 when they were gifted to the cottage when Dennis Turner was artist-in-residence. In 1998 photographer Peter Peryer captured the bookends in an image titled Tahi Rua.
Spend time with these works, think about their symbolism, what’s being concealed and revealed and how the works are talking to each other. We have brought together unlikely friends. Disconnected from their original contexts and exhibitions, works become more curious and are connected here as new conversations across time.
Greg Donson & Cecelia Kumeroa
Curators