Vivian Lynn
I, Here, Now
curated by Christina Barton and Laura Preston
24 October 2008 – 15 March 2009
Vivian Lynn will be known to many as the artist who notoriously used hair in a number of large-scale installations dating from the early 1980s, such as Guarden Gates (1982) and The Gates of Goddess: A Southern Crossing (1986).
These are landmark works in New Zealand’s art history for their trenchant re-coding of materials and subjects that aimed to expose the binary logic of western patriarchal culture and its consequences, as well as provide positive statements about women’s experience.
But perhaps less well known is the fact that Vivian Lynn has been a practising artist since the late 1950s, working across a range of media – painting, drawing, printmaking, book-making, and installation – to develop a formally and iconographically complex body of work that asks fundamental questions about the nature of being, especially if one is a woman.
The Adam Art Gallery redressed this situation, by staging a selective survey of her practice that canvassed its full range, and brought to light works that have not been seen for many years. Curated by Christina Barton and Laura Preston, the show examined the diversity of Lynn’s output to draw out underlying themes and ongoing concerns.
The curators believe Lynn’s work should be better known, both for its marvellous technical virtuosity and its critical examination of society. In her refusal to develop a signature style, in her practical reiteration of the notion that forms and materials can, in themselves, engender meanings, and in her continual attempt to develop new modes of socially engaged practice, the curators believe Lynn is an artist for our times.
Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008
Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008
Vivian Lynn, Self portrait, 1981/2008, synthetic hair, polyethene industrial pipes, 3820 x 1000 x 1000mm. Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008
Vivian Lynn, Mantle, 1982/2008, hair, 1380 x 1950 x 70mm. Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008
Vivian Lynn, Spin: versor, versari, 1995-97, nine digital prints and lights, each print 2346 x 1245 mm, overall dimensions variable. Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. Photo: Les Maiden
Vivian Lynn, Lamella – Lamina, 1983, mixed media on Canson tracing paper, each element 2280mm (h), overall dimensions variable. Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. Photo: Les Maiden
Vivian Lynn, Honour, duty, sacrifice, 1970, acrylic on board, garden hose, brass, awning canvas, 2860 x 1225 mm. Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008
Vivian Lynn, Book of forty images, 1973-4/1980, silkscreen, vinyl cover 615 x 1760 x 30mm (open). Installation view, I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008
Vivian Lynn, Self portrait, 1950, 420 x 296mm, digital lambda print of original palm print on paper. Courtesy of the artist