Last Light IX, oil on canvas, 150 x 110cm
"Last Light in the Garden", Sam Foley (Dowling Street Studios)
It’s always interesting to see an artist’s work in or close to their studio, and Sam Foley’s latest exhibition is in such a space, down an alley and up some steep steps at 20A Dowling St. For those not game to climb to Foley’s studio, the exhibition will be transferring to The Artist’s Room in two weeks.
"Last Light in the Garden" uses the Dunedin Botanic Garden, and especially the Rhododendron Dell, as subject matter. Foley was somewhat hesitant about painting walkways overhung with rhododendrons, a subject which has been virtually copyrighted in New Zealand by Karl Maughan. Using the latter artist’s work as a benchmark, Foley has created images which touch on the Maughan-like but which have the distinct mark of Foley. This has been achieved by not presenting the dell in full daylight, but by recreating it in the crepuscular gloom which is a mark of many of the artist’s works.
The resulting images present the gardens as a place of beauty and haunting otherworldliness, with paths leading into the unknown. This is fitting, given the multilayered meaning of "Last Light in the Garden". It can not only be taken in a literal sense, but also in terms of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and also our current global ecological crisis.
By James Dignan