Coastal Profiles & Hydrographic Charts

A DigitalNZ Story by Courtney Johnston

I was reminded of Isaac Gilsemans' (the artist on Tasman's voyage) exquisite drawings of Cape Foulwind when I visited Pataka (the cultural complex in Porirua) today and saw Wellington artist Peter Trevelyan's exhibition 'Tenuous'. Trevelyan makes complex but weightless abstract sculptures by fusing together the leads from mechanical pencils, starting with a simple triangular form that then (sometimes seemingly randomly, sometimes with rigid geometry) multiplies and multiplies into large cloud-like shapes. In this exhibition my eye was less caught by the statement piece, a large, boulder-like protrusion mounted on the wall, than by four small sculptures, almost like sketches, whose shapes recalled Gilsemans' delicate yet assured coastal profiles. http://www.pataka.org.nz/2012/08/peter-trevelyan-tenuous/