Homage to Hundertwasser Art Exhibition to open Friday 7 April

Unique, rare and valuable prints go on display as deadline looms for Whangarei’s Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Maori Art Gallery.

A Homage To Hundertwasser Art Exhibition will open this Friday at the Whangarei Art Museum, giving locals the chance to view a collection of rare and unique artworks associated with the project.

The exhibition, which is free for all ages, will showcase the beginnings of the collection that will be housed at the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Maori Art Gallery. It will be the first time all art associated with the HAC project is shown together in a gallery setting.

Works to be on display include several rarely-seen pieces by Hundertwasser himself, as well as art from contributing New Zealand artists who have donated works to the fundraising campaign. These include:

• Tony Ogle: limited edition screen print entitled Sandspit Baches – Matapouri. 2017
• Emily Karaka: 2x lithographic prints Lament and He Kakano Ahau 2016
• Billy Apple: limited edition screen print entitled Hundertwasser Footprint. 2016
• Dick Frizzell: limited edition screen print entitled Hommage a Hundertwasser 2016

While the first print of each of these artworks has been gifted to the Whangarei Art Museum for the Hundertwasser Art Centre, others will be available to purchase on the night and online.

Also on display is the now very-rare, vintage Conservation Week Poster from 1974, HAC Building Stone limited edition screen print, a flagship work that tells the 23-year story of the project, the Hundertwasser Bible that was gifted to the Whangarei Art Museum last year and finally the HAC model, made in Vienna and a work of art in its own right.

The exhibition is open from April 7, 2017 until June 4, 2017 at the Whangarei Art Museum at the Town Basin, with opening night from 5.30pm onwards.

HAC Project Director Andrew Garratt says with so much current interest in the project, the Homage to Hundertwasser exhibition is a great way to illustrate the enduring benefits of the HAC project for the Northland district.

“We are in the final, crucial stages of fundraising and this exhibition will be a fantastic reminder as to why we are all working so hard.  It is great that the Whangarei Art Museum is able to put on such an impressive exhibition.“

Those who cannot make it to the exhibition can view and purchase the limited-edition artworks by Emily Karaka, Tony Ogle, Dick Frizzell and Billy Apple at www.yeswhangarei.co.nz/art-shop.