Chartwell Notes

‘Energy Field: Movements’ consists of 8 ply panels, painted blue with white calligraphic marks and overstained with rust. The work comes from what Pauline Rhodes refers to as the 'Energy Fields' series - a body of work that consists predominantly of drawings.

These works combine the formal nature of modernist autonomous abstraction, with a concern for the body and space. Beginning from a contrast between the 'scriptural/ sculptural', the combination of hand painted and random splash marks in white paint move from freehand drawing to gestural mark making, alluding to the idea of a script or language.  

Rhodes made a total of 9 of these panels in the early-mid 1990s but they were not exhibited until the 2020 ‘Pauline Rhodes: Blue Mind’ exhibition at Christchurch Art Gallery, where 3 panels were presented as a triptych and another as a single panel. This single panel was later acquired into the Christchurch Art Gallery collection.  The remaining 8 panels form the work, Energy Field: Movements, 1996,  acquired by the Chartwell Collection.

Rhodes lost the custom-made press she used to rust stain her materials in the Christchurch earthquake. Since then, she has been unable to use this process, making these works all the more significant.

Rob Gardiner describes the work as a significant calligraphic painting in NZ art history.

We acknowledge Michael Lett, Andrew Thomas and the artist for the information shared with us.