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Issue 31 Exhibitions Ōtautahi www.artbeat.org.nz August 2021 Galleries Christchurch Studios Waitaha Street Art Canterbury Art in Public Places ARTBEAT In this issue: The Art of Flying Nun 01 Being an Urban Artist 02 The Den 03 At The Galleries 03 Place in Time, Tūranga 05 Reviews 08 Ronnie van Hout 10 Hellzapoppin’! The Art of Flying Nun writer Warren Feeney The opening of Hellzapoppin’! The Art of → Flying Nun Sneaky Feelings in August 2021 at the Christchurch Be My Friend Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū is no coinci- 1982. 7-inch dence. It celebrates to the month, forty years single, designed by Ronnie van ago that Roger Shepherd, then a record Hout store manager in Christchurch established →→ Flying Nun, its first ten years of recording the Tall Dwarfs Slug- predominant subject of a survey exhibition of buckethairy- the original artwork, record covers, posters, breathmonster videos, photographs, design and paintings by 1984. EP Designed by members of the labels’ various bands, musi- Chris Knox cians and associated designers and artists. While debate still fires up among music critics and musicians in Aotearoa about the critical role that Flying Nun played in the post-punk music scene in the 1980s, while Wellington and Auckland saw the emergence of bands that included Beat Rhythm Fashion and The Mockers, (both from Wellington) the anchor of a record label with a distinct attitude and personality has seen Shepherd’s Flying Nun remembered as the sound of that period. Certainly, The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills are high on the list of bands contributing to such perceptions and memories. Curated by Peter Vangioni from the Christchurch Art Gallery, he admits that he to communicate with, its band members And although Flying Nun is often described these are related her silkscreened posters made the decision to move to Christchurch and their records, and the artists who have as representing a DIY attitude (do it yourself) for The Verlaines. in the late 1980s to study at the University of brought their music to visual life: Chris Knox, , van Hout identifies it as ‘more BYO than DIY’. ‘A lot of the musicians were doing beau- Canterbury, based on the premise that the Lesley Maclean, Ronnie van Hout, Robert Vangioni is also impressed by the number tiful art. Up to about number 83 of the Flying city was the centre for many of Flying Nun’s Scott, Alec Bathgate, John Halvorsen, John of records that Shepherd released for his Nun records, each of them had their own bands and venues. Bringing together the Collie, Jane Dodd, Martin Phillipps and many Flying Nun label in Christchurch. ‘The Clean’s label, done by artist-friends or members of album covers and associated objects, films more’. Boodle, Boodle, Boodle, 1981, provided the the band. They were creators using whatever and works of art, making up over 300 objects The punk music scene that dominated a model. There is a modesty and unassuming was available. By the late-1980s there was for Hellzapoppin’!, he comments with signif- ↓ number of pubs and bars in the early 1980s, strength about them. They are the Dunedin less of the hand production and less of the Builders icant pleasure that the exhibition is ‘more c.1985. that included The Gladstone and Hillsbor- band, being pre-digital and hands on in their DIY’. Poster, de- work than your standard art exhibition. Each signed by Lesley ough saw them evolve into regular venues recording and album art’. In 1987, Flying Nun bands stopped doing band involved has been an absolute treat Maclean for Flying Nun Bands, and it is important to ‘Hellzapoppin’! goes to the mid-1990s their own labels for their records and Vangioni note that the involvement of artist Ronnie van but the period from 1981 to 1988 is dominant. highlights this shift, acknowledging a phil- Hout, a student at the Ilam School of Fine Art, The exhibition is made up of some original osophical change in thinking. He notes that during that period and contributor to record paintings used on records, and that includes Montgomery’s The Pin Group were anti-mar- covers and singles for The Pin Group and John Collie’s Bird-Dog painting for The keting, releasing a single with virtually no Sneaky Feelings, was part of a wider associ- Verlaines' LP of the same name in 1987 and identifiable details. ation between the music and the SFA in the beautiful original prints by Michael Morley for Vangioni also notes that Christ- early 1980s that also included a transitioning The Dead C. Ronnie van Hout did all three church-based designer Alec Bathgate has punk scene into experimental sound music. covers for the records by Roy Montgomery’s designed the book for Hellzapoppin’! and like (Student/sculptor Graham Snowden’s group The Pin Group, 1981-82 and 25 Cents,1982. all aspects of the exhibition’s realisation, he And Band’s continuous noise performance Designed by Matthew Campbell Downes and is also closely associated with Flying Nun. in 1980 at the University of Canterbury repre- Stuart Page Ballon D’Essai, This is the Level ‘Bathgate went through art school in Dune- sented a wall of sound that drove all those Crossing, 1982, also included a comic book’. din and joined The Enemy with Chris Knox, initially wishing to attend from the venue). ‘Lesley Maclean was a student at CPIT went to Auckland, formed Toy Love and then Vangioni says that with Flying Nun, Chris School of Art and Design and she did posters Tall Dwarfs–and being involved with the label Knox is everywhere. ‘He was a musician, for Flying Nun, including The Builders, 1985, Flying Nun has also led musicians to become sound engineer, song writer, and he did album using a series of mylar sheets and cutting out designers’. art for himself, his own records and for other the shapes by hand with a swivel knife, differ- bands, making posters, making video ( he did ent sheets for different colours, like a screen The Clean video for Tally Ho) and little adver- print. She got to see and know all the bands. tisements that would go in Rip It Up maga- Michael Reed was teaching print making at zine. Ronnie van Hout also features large in CPIT at that time and he taught her’. the exhibition. In addition to his design of the ‘The exhibition has original artworks Hellzapoppin’! The Art of Flying Nun publication accompanying Hellzapoppin’! and relating to specific record covers including Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū a limited edition poster, van Hout’s observa- Rolling Moon by The Chills - The original draw- Cnr Worcester Blvd and Montreal St tions about Flying Nun, are enlightening. He ing for it. Martin Phillipps was self-taught and 21 August to 28 November 2021. observes;‘hanging out with those artists at he liked comic books in particular. Jane Dodd, Hellzapoppin’! will launch with a free open- that time was more important than going to who was also in The Chills and The Verlaines ing party with performances from some of art school.... It came out of a period of high is now a contemporary jeweller represented Aotearoa's best musical acts. unemployment and many of us had gone in Christchurch by The National. Self-taught 7pm Friday 20 August through a utopian education system that left , she did the labels on side one and side two Exclusive to Artbeat, Ronnie van Hout’s The us ill-equipped for the emerging dystopia’. for their single, Death and the Maiden, and Pin Group Coat / Jim, poster, page 10 Artbeat 01 So, you want to be an urban artist? question of how much to charge and whether to compromise on price to gain opportuni- ties, or what stylistic and thematic conces- sions you might be willing to make when producing a legal work. In contrast to the freedom of hitting the streets, a commis- sioned mural will often require an under- standing of what is deemed acceptable or appropriate, which may mean adopt- ing a more fluid style. However, in a world where recognisable and original aesthet- ics are valued, this becomes a problematic proposition. This line of thought leads to another question that surrounds the transition to muralism; should you have a body of un-commissioned work before seeking larger opportunities? Are you somehow less authentic if you have not ‘put in work’? This is part of a broader discussion around the evolution of urban art and its participants. If ↖ graffiti and street art’s rebellious roots were Jessie Rawcliffe works on her mural supporting The Marriage of Figaro. The step into muralism can mean facing a raft of challenges, from the ability to once definitive, that has changed as these work with briefs to the practicalities of accessing a wall forms have become mainstream and have found increasingly supported platforms. ↑ Dr Suits art work on a mural in New Brighton. Stepping into muralism, and Artists range from teenagers to parents (and street art more generally, raises a range of questions in some instances grandparents), and span writer all walks of life, including doctors, scientists, Reuben Woods teachers and, of course, professional artists. In recent weeks I have been posed a and styles and intentions as there are tools to use (although murals have predom- This diversity means people must come recurring question: ‘How do I start paint- participants. While graffiti is a more coher- inantly been painted with brushes or spray to terms with their motivations, their comfort ing murals?’ In one case this question was ent subculture where a network of histories, cans, today artists produce work with fire levels and the potential implications of their reframed from an initial: ‘How do I become a rules, and expectations (both stylistically extinguishers, by carving into walls (in the actions.

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