ARTISTS | Ngaio Lenz (estate)
Ngaio Lenz’ work reflects a nostalgia for the discarded and a reclamation of the past lives of found objects.
Informed by the natural processes of weather, time, cause and effect, Lenz’ work celebrates the beauty of a well-worn surface and an aesthetic of imperfection. Developed as a visceral response to her environment, ambiguous organic forms play on negative and positive space; balancing, teetering, barely touching to create tension between the shapes. The varied materials employed are subjected to layering, peeling, scraping, scratching, heat and abrasion, in a similar way in which the earth’s surface is exposed to the elements of fire, wind and water.
Lenz’ process, equally accidental and purposeful, intuitive and thoughtful generates a narrative where the layering of history is revealed.
Catalogue Raisonné:
Ngaio Lenz, #122, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 122x122cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, No. 110, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 122x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, 111, mixed media on canvas, 120x120cm
Ngaio Lenz, 108, 120x120
Ngaio Lenz, No. 116, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 122x122cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #117, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 91x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, #109, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 91x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, #113, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 91x122cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, No. 118, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 122x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, #114, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 91x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, #115, 2017, mixed media on canvas, 91x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, #103, 152x182cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #100, mixed media on canvas, 122x152cm (diptych)
Ngaio Lenz, #97, mixed media on canvas, 122x244cm (diptych) SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, artwork from An Imperfect Balance, 152x182cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #94, mixed media on canvas, 101x202cm (diptych)
Ngaio Lenz, #98, mixed media on canvas, 122x244cm (diptych) SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #95, mixed media on canvas, 101x202cm
Ngaio Lenz, #72 mixed media on canvas, 122x152cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #71 mixed media on canvas, 101x152cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #75, 120x120cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #76, 120x120cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #67, mixed media on canvas, 91x91cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #66, mixed media on canvas, 122x122cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #70 mixed media on canvas, 120x120cm
Ngaio Lenz, #69 mixed media on canvas, 120x120cm
Ngaio Lenz, mixed media on canvas, 122x152cm
Ngaio Lenz, #65, 101x202cm SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, Night Landscape, for the exhibition Winter Solstice 1 at Gallerysmith SOLD
Ngaio Lenz, #50, 2015, 122x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #42
Ngaio Lenz, #78, 120x120cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #45
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #46
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #40, 91x122cm
Ngaio Lenz, #101, 2016, 91x91cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #92, 101x202cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden 2, 101x101cm
Ngaio Lenz, #61, 2015
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #47
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #89, 101x101cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #79, 101x120cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden 1, 101 x 120cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #49
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #82, 90x120cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #91, 101x101cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #88, 101x101cm
Ngaio Lenz, Papercut Garden #90, 101x101cm
Ngaio Lenz, Self-Portrait, 2013
Ngaio Lenz, Head, 2013
Ngaio Lenz, Self-Portrait, 2013
Ngaio Lenz, Terrafirm, 100x126cm
Ngaio Lenz, Terrafirm
Ngaio Lenz, Terrafirm
Ngaio Lenz, Terrafirm
Ngaio Lenz, Terrafirm
Exhibitions:
Heartland | Ngaio Lenz
An Imperfect Balance | Ngaio Lenz
Towards Abstraction: Paintings from the Stockroom
Landscape Narratives | Ngaio Lenz
Winter Solstice 1 | a group exhibition
CV:
NGAIO LENZ
1964-2018
Born Townsville. Lived Melbourne and Mackay, Australia
Education
Masters of Contemporary Art (High Distinction), UTAS
Solo Exhibitions
2018
Heartland, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC
2016
An imperfect balance, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC
Papercut garden, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC
2015
Landscape narratives, Gallerysmith, Melbourne, VIC
My head is a vessel, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Equilibrium, Regional Arts House, Brisbane, QLD
Cactus garden, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC
2014
Balance, Milton House Gallery, Mackay, QLD
Kept Things, Artspace Mackay, Mackay, QLD
Balance, Percolator Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
Silhouettes After Chemo, Artspace Mackay, QLD
2013
Terrafirm, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC
Memoirs of a room, Art at St Francis, Melbourne, VIC
2012
Back to the room, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Modern essays of a room, Umbrella Studios, Townsville, QLD
A room in time, Hand Held Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Group Exhibitions
2018
- Bayside Art Award (shortlisted), Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre, Melbourne
- St Kevin’s Art Show (shortlisted), St Kevin’s College, Melbourne
2017
- The Memory of Time, curated by Swee Lim, SJB, Melbourne
2016
- Towards Abstraction, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
- Artist Open House, Fremantle WA
2015
- Winter Solstice, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2006-2011
- Libras Artists Book Exhibition, Artspace, Mackay, QLD
- Subject matters, Artspace, Mackay, QLD
- Scissors paper rock, Milton House Gallery, Mackay, QLD
- Art on show, Show Society, Mackay, QLD
- Lethbridge 10000, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
- Small works, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, QLD
- Urban portraits, Architype Gallery, Sydney, NSW
- Art on show, Mackay Show Society, Mackay, QLD
- Water’s Edge, Travelling Exhibition, Mackay, Cairns, Townsville, QLD
- Subject matters 2, Artspace, Mackay, QLD
- Artstreet, Mackay, QLD
- Libras Artists Book Exhibition, Artspace, Mackay, QLD
- Tropical Abstractions, Arthouse Gallery, Mackay, QLD
- Great walks, Artspace, Mackay, QLD
Press
- Sarah Werkmeister, Ngaio Lenz Paints Possibility, Art Guide Australia, 12 October 2016, http://artguide.com.au/ngaio-lenz
- Mackay Artist to Exhibit Work in Brisbane Gallery, Sunshine Coast Daily, 5 May, 2015 https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/mackay-artist-exhibit-work-brisbane-gallery/2628712/
- Ngaio Lenz’ Equilibrium, scenest, 27 April, 2015, http://scenestr.com.au/arts/ngaio-lenz-s-equilibrium
- Artist Tells of Brush with Death, Daily Mercury, October 17, 2014 http://www.pressreader.com/australia/daily-mercury/20141017/281767037475131
- Regional Galleries Guide, Artspace Mackay: Exhibition Highlights, Art Collector magazine online, 2014, http://www.artcollector.net.au/ArtspaceMackay
- Looking forward looking back: 150 years of Mackay: 1862-2012, 44 pp illustrated ex.cat., Tracey Heathwood, published by Artspace Mackay
- Shakira Sellen, Bowled Over by Demand, Daily Mercury, 8 February 2012, https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/bowled-over-by-demand/1264129/
