Mar 27, 2013 Art
Kick off the long weekend early at Queen’s Wharf’s monthly outdoor drawing club.
Get down to Queen’s Wharf outdoor drawing club on the last Thursday of the month. Music, model and a beautiful backdrop are provided. You bring your own art supplies, a dash of inspiration and a bit of attitude to ward off any amateur art critics who may be hanging around. They (Waterfront Auckland) supply the trappings: DJs, food vendors and some installations around the model, for those who prefer objects to anatomy.
Organiser Cleo Barnett did a similar project last summer at Khartoum Place, but this venue wins hands down. The popular Street Portraits, where visitors to Queens Wharf can have their portraits done by young artists for $5, will also be on in March.
Drawing Club: Queen’s Wharf, today, March 28, 6-8pm. Free.
If you’d prefer to look not draw, there’s still time to check out Male Nudes at TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre at Pah Homestead. Getting your kit off for art is as old as, well… Michelangelo’s magnificent David from 1504 isn’t a bad place to start. But we haven’t had much of it Downunder of late. I suspect the art schools think it’s all a bit too trad — you would struggle to come up with a decent nude study using a glue gun and found objects, after all.
Or maybe we’re all just too prudy about nudey. Anyway, it’s good to see an exhibition that frankly and unashamedly outs the male nude and looks beyond the obvious physical side, to the skill and care required to copy the human form.
James Wallace has built up quite a collection over the years, with some well-known names and some smart young talent too, such as Andrew McLeod and Young Sun Han.
Male Nudes: TSB Baank Wallace Arts Centre, Pah Homestead, Hillsborough. Until April 14. It’s open Saturday and Sunday this Easter, 10am-5pm.
Image: Mary McIntyre, Nude Man, Skull Drawing, 1993 (detail)
