Before us now there is nothing but sea, sea, sea: one spread, vast, moving field, veined with currents, shimmering with light, and shot like an opal with varying colours—purple and peacock, turquoise and azure, silver and gold and green—an illimitable world of shine and space.
Blanche Baughan, ‘The Mountain Track’1
Just when you think you have an artist pegged, they do something so unexpected it completely floors you. This is how I felt when I learned that Pauline Rhodes was showing five paintings at Bowen Galleries in Wellington in April. I have been following Rhodes’ practice for years, fascinated by her commitment to ephemeral installations that she assembles in and out of doors, with a trademark combination of natural and manufactured materials, adjusted and recycled for different situations. While I…