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ORNAMENTAL FRIENDS

Hamish Coleman
Hamish Coleman
Maia McDonald
Maia McDonald
Lucy Meyle
Lucy Meyle
Moniek Schrijer
Moniek Schrijer
Samuel Te Kani
Samuel Te Kani
19.05.22–11.06.22
Ornamental Friends brings together five very different artists with the aim of creating fertile and unexpected conversations. The artworks featured are rich in their materiality, marked by sheen and shifting colour. The exhibition as a whole is suffused with romance, imagination, and wit. It provokes awe and curiosity, and invites deep reflection.
Based on stills from original films, Hamish Coleman’s paintings possess a quality of wistfulness and mystery. They find the extraordinary in the everyday, and hint at complex narratives stretching beyond their margins. Lucy Meyle’s sculptures evoke skins, shells, and clothes—entities that conceal, distort, embellish, or protect. They play with bagginess and exaggeration, acknowledging imprecision in concepts and categories. Moniek Schrijer’s adornments are elegant and bold, glamorous and gritty. They often develop out of found entities, bewitching them, or introducing an edge of fierceness. Maia McDonald’s sparkling uku hooks act as supports but are independently powerful, drawing on natural and human-shaped forms. Similarly, Samuel Te Kani’s writing speaks to the other works in the show, while maintaining a voice and temperament all its own.

LISTEN: Catholic Taste by Samuel Te Kani. A short story in response to the works in Ornamental Friends. Read by Francis McWhannell.

LUCY MEYLE
Covered bench (Picnic), 2020–
Plywood, polyester fabric, toggles, elastic, thread
550 x 1250 x 450mm
LUCY MEYLE
Evergreen scrunchie (accessory for a willow tree), 2019
Viscose and silk velvet, stainless steel chain, thread
100 x 650 x 1000mm (approx.)
HAMISH COLEMAN
Ends Run Together, 2021
Oil on linen
1070 x 1070mm

MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 1, 2018

MONIEK SCHRIJER
dolphin charmer, 2017
Silver-plated brass (oxidised), sterling silver
MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 13, 2018

MONIEK SCHRIJER
whale crab, 2018
Silver-plated brass (chopstick holders), brass swivels, sterling silver
HAMISH COLEMAN
June, July, August (the winter months), 2021
Oil on linen
1500 x 1500mm
MONIEK SCHRIJER
golden arches, 2017
Brass, sterling silver, porcelain paint

MONIEK SCHRIJER
straw spider, 2017
Oxidised brass, brass swivels, sterling silver

Catholic Taste
A short story by Samuel Te Kani in response to the works in Ornamental Friends.
‘Fill a modest apartment with the kinds of smells you’d expect of a place on the Riviera, replete with topiaries and hired help. I also liked things thrifted for their personality. ‘Statement pieces’ I would call them in my head. Never out loud. Just as I’d find them, brushing them in the shop, using livid fantasy to get a feel for what our lives might be like together—a water witch divining possible springs amidst unforgiving tundras. Could this lampshade bring more than a rose tint to a naked bulb—could it solve decades of psychological blind spots with its tender nightly service?’
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LUCY MEYLE
Snake’s dress (like a fruit and its skin), 2020
Silver-plated chain, jump rings, real and fake foods
Dimensions variable

MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 2, 2018

MONIEK SCHRIJER
flaming heart, 2019
Chromed zinc alloy (jewellery container), cotton cord
HAMISH COLEMAN
Boiling Over, 2022
Oil on linen
1600 x 1600mm
MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 5, 2018

MONIEK SCHRIJER
sailor moon, 2019
Copper, moonstone, patina paint, cotton cord
MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 9, 2018

MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 6, 2018

MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 10, 2018

LUCY MEYLE
Lobster’s dinner gloves, 2019
Polyester organza, thread
950 x 300 x 100mm (approx.)
HAMISH COLEMAN
Fear of Flying, 2021
Oil on linen
1500 x 1500mm
MAIA MCDONALD
Hook 3, 2018

MONIEK SCHRIJER
cloud memory, 2017
Platinum alloy on aluminium (hard disk drive platters), sterling silver

MONIEK SCHRIJER
snake, 2017
Brass (candlestick holders), sterling silver, smoky quartz
MONIEK SCHRIJER
madonna, 2019
Copper, pearl trochus shells, sterling silver, patina paint

MONIEK SCHRIJER
snail mail, 2019
Turbo shells, patinated sterling silver, cotton, harakeke

MONIEK SCHRIJER
LIKE, 2019
Chromed zinc alloy (jewellery container lid), cotton cord

MONIEK SCHRIJER
comb crown, 2016
Gold-plated brass and sterling silver