Exhibitions
A Colour Has Many Faces, PG gallery192
Curated by Polly Gilroy
Artists use colour to make you feel or see something, however a single colour can be translated in many ways. There is an undeniable instability to colour. Although, on a surface level hues appear stable, as relationships form between colours and their environment we find they endlessly transform. They are as variable as light.
A colour has many faces brings together five female artists from across Aotearoa with diverse artistic practices. Colour plays a pivotal role within each artist’s work and is explored through their unique visual language, dissecting the sensorial potential of surface and shape through bold abstraction.
30 May - 30 June, 2023
Traces, PG gallery192
In Polly Gilroy’s third solo show at PG gallery192, Christchurch, she presents a study of light and shadow in the gallery space, taking cues from the reflections which cascaded across former bodies of work.
“In order to use colour effectively it is necessary to recognise that colour deceives continually.”
Josef Albers, Interaction of Color (1963)
5 April - 6 May 2022
Sun Faded, install shot showing light refections
In absence of, PG gallery192, Christchurch
Intriguingly titled ‘In absence of’, these works are elusive. Soft hazes of silk slowly engulf colours whilst selectively capturing and amplifying light.
This new series brings the stretcher bars and support structures into the formal composition, offering viewers something to look at as well as something to look through and beyond. Unseen hues fall away, margins interweave while veiling and unveiling sun-faded layers. The quiet works create a contemplative space, encouraging the viewer to question, ‘in absence of’ what?
Absent fullness 3/5, beside Chauncey Flay sculpture.
Playground in a Lake, Föenander Galleries
Absent Fullness 3/5, Absent Fullness 5/5, Tension #1, #2 & #3 featured in Playground in a Lake group exhibition at Föenander Galleries, Auckland.
Featuring works by Billy McQueen, Polly Gilroy, Chauncey Flay, Isaac Katzoff, Ramon Robertson
August 2022
‘Sight line’ beside ‘In the shadows of Pukekawa’ by Neil Palmer
Cinder and Smoke, Föenander Galleries
Sight Line diptych featured in Cinder and Smoke group exhibition at Föenander Galleries, Auckland. Featuring works by Billy Apple, Polly Gilroy, Neil Palmer, Billy McQueen, Oliver Cain, Cathy Carter and more.
26 June - 12 July, 2021
Sun Faded, Finalist work in ZAFAA’21
Zonta Ashburton Female Art Awards, Ashburton Art Gallery
The Zonta Ashburton Female Art Awards showcases artworks from a selection of emerging and mid-career female artists based in Canterbury.
The exhibition is presented by The Zonta Club of Ashburton in partnership with the Ashburton Art Gallery. The award seeks to raise the status of female visual artists working in the wider Canterbury area and acknowledges excellence in emerging and mid-career female artists as well as providing a platform for female youth.
6 March - 6 April, 2021
Mimic, 2018 on display at In Black Concept Store
In Black, Seagar Design, Auckland
Mimic triptych displayed at In Black, Seagar Design, a New Zealand-based studio presenting high-end residential and commercial interiors.
Quiet Dance, Finalist work in ZAFAA’20
Zonta Ashburton Female Art Awards, Ashburton Art Gallery
This award exhibition presented by The Zonta Club of Ashburton in partnership with the Ashburton Art Gallery showcases the works of emerging and mid-career female artists based in Canterbury. The award seeks to raise the status of female visual artists working in the wider Canterbury area and acknowledges excellence in emerging and mid-career female artists as well as providing a platform for female youth.
Soft Focus, install shot from XMAS’19 group exhbition
XMAS’19, PG gallery192, Christchurch
Soft Focus diptych in PG gallery192’s yearly Christmas group exhibition, featuring the galleries represented artists.
Polly Gilroy and Philippa Blair in front of Quiet Dance at the exhibition opening of Within and Without at PG gallery192
Within and Without, PG gallery192, Christchurch
Polly’s debut solo exhibition Within and Without presents a suite of eight 2019 works that quietly ask for your attention. The works demarcate space, absorb sound and activate different chromatic relationships within and without. These relationships are enhanced by light and shadow throughout the day, encouraging spacial awareness.
Install of Mimic triptych in the Frobishers Auckland show room
Frobishers Interiors, Parnell, Auckland
Leading Interior Design Store Frobisher opens their Auckland Show room exhibiting stunning new Rolf Benz furniture paired with striped back, chromatic, contemporary art.
PG gallery192, Pop Up space, Christchurch CBD
Contemporary art gallery PG gallery192 had a temporary pop up space in the Christchurch CBD, showcasing stock from some of their leading represented artists.
Profile from Exposure works Where Shadow Chases Light
Exposure, Graduate Exhibition, Massey University
Exposure is the premier showcase for graduating creative arts students from Massey University College of Creative Arts in Wellington. After four years of concentrated effort and extraordinary virtuosity that began in high schools all over the country, you will be introduced to what the latest cohort of emerging artists have been up to.
Profile from Loose Leaf exhibition
Loose Leaf, Group Exhibition, Potocki Paterson
Loose Leaf presents new work from five Wellington based emerging artists Polly Gilroy, Harris Clook, and Robert Laking alongside designers Ruby Ash and Alfred Hoi.
The exhibition signifies the accumulation of different ideas which altogether form an underlying context, focusing on the moments when materials become the essentialised basis of the artistic process, allowing the substances that art is made of to communicate their own agency. The intent is to foster a relationship with the viewer and the work of art through a manifestation of the material experiences.
Detail of Inked, Musty and Corroded triptych in Boundless Perceptions
Boundless Perceptions, Group Exhibition, Massey University
Emerging artists Polly Gilroy, Olivia Courtney, Harris Clook, and Remington Manning present "Boundless Perceptions". An exhibition that collates their cohesive concepts revolved specifically around; formation and perception, but also explores tactility, softness, movement and ambiguity. There was a significant importance of process and media application.