Reuben Paterson: Bottled Lightning

Bottled Lightning highlights Reuben Paterson’s lively exploration of materials, starting with his glitter-on-canvas depictions of kowhaiwhai and fabric designs, and diversifying into a range of media including sequins, foil, diamond dust, shoes, gourds, video and installation. Fusing liquid, light and metal, his cultural patterns have evoked sacred diamonds, the social and ecological aftermath of gold mining, and the tidal pull of lunar forces. These remind us of the underlying power that ripples beneath the land we stand on with its ever-changing layers of history. Guiding this is Paterson’s ongoing conceptual investigation into aspects of time and energy through the properties of light, which reflects the power of history, memory, whakapapa, spirituality and place. His work is a celebration of the future, interwoven with a melancholic consideration of the present as it slips into the past – like the faded glory of a much-anticipated party, gleefully recalled the morning after.

Paterson completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts in 1997, followed by a Post Graduate Diploma of Teaching at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education. Although he has exhibited widely internationally and in New Zealand, this is his first solo public gallery exhibition in Auckland since Cameo Project in 2001.