Christina Pataialii is a painter of multiplicity. The works in On the Lam, her first dealer gallery show, are marked by an assured visual brevity, giving you more the more time you give them. They’ve an immediate and enduring formal and sensual appeal. The mint green background of Ace in the Hole is the work’s own winning card. It tugs at my visual memory days after encountering it for the first...
Projects 2018 includes work by 18 emerging and established artists based in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, complementing the selection offered by the 45 galleries participating in Auckland Art Fair. The result of an open call, the presentation aims to showcase a broad range of art unburdened by a prescriptive theme or curatorial conceit. Comprising installation, jewellery, painting...
Encountering the work of Christina Pataialii for the first time, I was struck by her profound affinity for paint. I make this comment with a measure of trepidation, aware that the vast majority of artists choosing to concentrate on painting feel a strong connection with the medium. Few, however, wield paint with the conviction of Pataialii. Loaded with a multiplicity of smears, splatters, and...