The Upstairs Art Gallery

Desmond Burden Solo Show

On show Friday 26 July - Sunday 11 August

Creating art is the craft of bringing life to a canvas, and for Desmond Burdon, life has been extraordinary.

DB was born in the mid-50s in Damascus to his Irish, United Nations delegates parents. His childhood years were spent moving, exploring, and assimilating into the various cultures of Syria, Ireland, Greece, Egypt, Italy, and the UK. At an early age, his parents gave him his first proper camera, he discovered that documenting the life around him helped him better understand the constant visual stimulation around him. His experiences shaped not only how he saw the world but also how he could make other people see it as well.

DB still sees the world through a keen, childlike eye, giving his work an element of play and curiosity. As he grew, his ability in art progressed into incorporating a wider range of media, blending photographic techniques with painting, drawing, graphics, and layers of everyday objects, creating a unique vision and style.


With three decades of international photography career in advertising under his belt, based in central London, he had 14 agents worldwide, offering him assignments from a very wide spectrum of clients, like Philip Morris (Marlboro), Lindt Chocolate, Mercedes Benz, British Airways, to mention a few.
 
One of the leading advertising photographers in London during the heydays of the '80s and '90s, until the advent of digital technology had a significant impact on advertising, making it very difficult to find satisfaction from working for advertising agencies. He packed his bags and headed to New Zealand, where he still mostly lives. Rediscovering and exploring new boundaries in blending and truely mixing media to create a finished personalized ARTwork.


This journey has been exciting, stimulating, and has finally opened the door to truly expressing himself, and in the process, having some serious fun!

Email gallery@upstairs.org.nz with any enquiries or call 09 817 4278

Titirangi Primary School: Kids Group Show

On show Saturday 6 July - Sunday 21 July

“At Titirangi Primary School we are mentally healthy when we are connecting with ourselves, our community and our environment. Being mentally healthy enables us to thrive, succeed and experience joy.” This shared understanding of mental health at TPS was the inspiration for this collection of mixed media self portraits expressing the emotion of joy.

As part of our mental health education, Room 10 (Year 2) explored emotions, with a focus on the emotion of joy. They discovered what joy can be, what it looks like and how it feels for themselves and others. They asked the question… how can joy be represented through colour and expression?

Room 10 would like to share their study of joy with their community and ask that as you view their work you ask yourself the question…What does joy mean to me?

Email gallery@upstairs.org.nz with any enquiries or call 09 817 4278

Steve Tollestrup Solo Show: ‘A Book Of Hours’

On show Friday 14 June - Sunday 30 June

A Book of Hours is an artistic journey into a mythic and elemental realm of deeper organic time beyond a fabricated measure counted in increments of productivity and schedule. This series comprises eight large oil paintings (each 1200 x 900), drawing inspiration from the medieval tradition of illuminated manuscripts found in monasteries. These manuscripts delineated the passage of day and night into eight sacred intervals for devotion and reflection. Observed here from the West Coast and viewed toward the Tasman horizon, each canvas presents a phase of this cyclic odyssey. Intended as more than decorative these paintings serve as ikons offering a pause to ponder the spiritual depths of time and the transcendence present in these sacred moments.

Steve Tollestrup is a West Auckland Artist working from his studio in Henderson Valley.

stevetollestrup.crevado.com

Rohit Vig solo show: ‘My Journey to the Stars’

On show Friday 14 June - Sunday 30 June

‘I have always loved gazing at the night sky - whether it is the ancient constellations, planets, nebulae bursting with stars being born, or the faint galaxies many light years away. These vistas of time and space are way beyond our human comprehension, yet seeing them touches something very deep in the imagination. It’s a reminder that we are made of star dust!

I enjoy the technical & artistic challenges of photographing something almost invisible to our human vision. The light I capture left its source thousands and even millions of years ago. My portfolio encompasses Deep Space, Planetary, Lunar & Landscape astrophotography. I use telescopes, astro-cameras, normal DSLR cameras, wide-field lenses and specialist software tools to create these images. Many of them have been imaged from my Auckland backyard. Join me on this Journey to the Stars!’ - Rohit Vig