Exhibition
Dilemma Hill
Roger Mortimer
26 February - 21 May 2017
The exhibition surveys the last 16 years of Mortimer’s art practice.
The exhibition surveys the last 16 years of Mortimer’s art practice.
Roger Mortimer has been described as ‘a contemporary visual mythologist’. His paintings portray beauty and barbarity, warning of the eternal perils of the human condition and expressing the hope of overcoming them.
The exhibition Roger Mortimer: Dilemma Hill surveys the last 16 years of Mortimer’s art practice; from the elaborate calligraphy of quirky early works based on bills, bureaucratic documents and mail order catalogues, to his recent exploration of imagery drawn from illustrated manuscripts of Dante’s 14th century epic poem, the Divine Comedy.
Mortimer’s menacing yet delicately coloured depictions invite both psychological and political readings and remind us of the human capacity for both evil and redemption. Graphic imagery lifted from medieval manuscripts set on New Zealand marine charts powerfully reflects contemporary global turmoil.
A joint project between Pataka Art + Museum and Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland, Roger Mortimer: Dilemma Hill will be Mortimer’s first major solo exhibition in a public institution.
Photography by Mark Tantrum
