Julian Dashper & Friends
City Gallery Wellington
5 December 2015 — 25 April 2016

Julian Dashper (1960-2009) has been a key figure in New Zealand art since the mid-1980s. Julian Dashper & Friends offers a tribute to an artist who changed the way we think about New Zealand art history.

Dashper made art about art. Some of his works pay homage to older celebrated artists, particularly canonical figures of New Zealand art, including Colin McCahon and Rita Angus; others address the workings of the art system. From the mid-1990s, Dashper increasingly exhibited overseas. Today, he represents a transitional figure between the ‘New Zealand painting’ that preceded him and the new generation of post-nationalist, post-medium artists that followed.

As Dashper’s works were constantly in dialogue with art history, our show presents his works in conversation with works by other national and international artists—his elders, his contemporaries, and those who followed. These include Rita Angus, Billy Apple, Daniel Buren, Fiona Connor, Colin McCahon, Dane Mitchell, Milan Mrkusich, John Nixon, John Reynolds, Peter Robinson, Marie Shannon, Imants Tillers, Peter Tyndall, Jan van der Ploeg and Gordon Walters.

The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, a video, and a giant road sign. Van der Ploeg will create a large wall painting for our Hancock Gallery.

Julian Dashper died of cancer in 2009. He was just 49. He is survived by his partner and fellow artist Marie Shannon, whose work also appears in this show.

Curated by Robert Leonard. Julian Dashper’s estate is represented by Michael Lett, Auckland; Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington; and Minus Space, New York.

Jan Van Der Ploeg’s visit to New Zealand has been made possible with financial support of the Mondriaan Fund and City Gallery Wellington.