McLeavey Gallery

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A car, a man, a maraca

John Reynolds
29 Jun – 23 Jul 2022
Install view
John Reynolds
Install view
John Reynolds
Install view
John Reynolds
Install view
John Reynolds
Install view
John Reynolds
Install view
John Reynolds

About the exhibition

Palindromes, proverbs, puns, idioms. John Reynolds loves word play. He loves language’s malleability and ambiguity; its ability to be stretched, distorted and grouped together to create metaphors, images and meaning greater than the sum of its parts. 

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Palindromes, proverbs, puns, idioms. John Reynolds loves word play. He loves language’s malleability and ambiguity; its ability to be stretched, distorted and grouped together to create metaphors, images and meaning greater than the sum of its parts. 

This exhibition, A car, a man, a maraca, is named after a collection of poetry by Australian artist and writer, Oscar Perry. The title, which is a palindrome (meaning it reads the same way forwards and backwards), suggests doubleness; that something can be read, seen or interpreted in more than one way.

Ranging from the poetic to the explicit, the works in the exhibition employ language to foreground the climate crisis. Quoting Greta Thunberg and contemplating blueness, the ocean and Aotearoa’s place in the South Pacific, the works span 2015 – 2022 and represent John's ongoing interest and concern for the environment, forming an extended body of work that combines art with activist tropes.

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Blah blah blah
John Reynolds, 2022
Metallic paint, marker and acrylic on canvas, 2.13 m x 3.08 m (diptych)
DUM MUD
John Reynolds, 2022
Metallic marker, acrylic paint and rain water on canvas, 2.13 m x 3.08 m (diptych)
This is a weeping song
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
I am the T.S. Eliot of new wastelands
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
Today's unlikely events will be tomorrow's reality
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
It's the environment stupid
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
The carbon crunch
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on paper
I am the Colin McCahon of seashore and abyss
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
I am the Janet Frame of raucous islands
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
The ozone hole
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on canvas
You are entering uncharted waters
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
Global weirding is here now
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
Pretty freak beast
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
Untitled
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
Let's not muddy the waters here
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
What bliss there is in blueness
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
Nuclear test sites in the Pacific Ocean
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic paint on plywood
I am the David Attenborough of sfumato and lement
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic on plywood
Untitled
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic on plywood
Save the deep
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic on plywood
The sea isn't a place but a fact and a mystery
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic on plywood
Toot if you love the ocean
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic on plywood
Climate Crime
John Reynolds, 2015
Acrylic on plywood

Artist

John Reynolds

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