Do you love spending Sundays browsing your local art gallery? Come Saturday night are you often in the audience for a new play? Do you challenge your mind with movies that fall outside the mainstream?
If you love to stretch your cultural muscles and you're always on the lookout for new and cool forms of expression then this is the place to come...
QUICK Q&A With FLOX You may have seen her art on the side of buildings in Auckland, her intricate birds and decorative shapes and designs adorn walls around the city. FLOX aka Hayley King completed a Bachelor of Design at Unitec in 2003 and has maintained a steady art practise ever since. In 2004 she extended this to include street art and most recently, her own clothing range.
“I knew it was going to be hard, if not impossible to make a living out of my art, but was not prepared to push it aside in favour of a nine to fiver. So I started up my own clothing line. It was my intention to have the two disciplines working in sync with one another, so both my art and the clothing could promote each other and be branded under the one umbrella.”
Flox’s influences include the Arts & Craft and Art Nouveau movements, but she also has strong contemporary ties to graphic art aesthetics. Flox says she is “crazy” about birds and decoration elements. She uses a mix of acrylic paint, spray paint and stencil, pencil and stain.
All this creativity keeps her very busy, she runs two businesses and looks after her son Bo. “I am continuously working towards exhibitions, taking part in live art events, and working on independent art contracts.” Flox sees herself having her own retail / exhibition space somewhere in Auckland CBD within the next two years, so watch this space…
Check out Flox’s latest work at:
Vanishing Point at the old factory on Gt North Rd (opposite the Army Base), Dec 5
Made In Aotearoa, Duo Show with Flox and Trust Me, Napier Dec 14
Splore 2008, live painting with Cut Collective, Feb 8 -11
You can purchase Flox’s clothing at the Aotea Markets every Friday and Saturday, or be in quick for the pre-Christmas fashion clearance sale: Thursday December 6, PR Bar 2-6 Ponsonby Rd, 5-8pm. (Click here to download the flyer) To check out more artwork and the clothing range, click here
Rice Dreams: Paintings by Shea N’Neill November 9 – December 7 Sideroom Gallery, 399 New North Road, Auckland Rice Dreams is a collection of paintings spanning the last 2 years, throughout which Shea lived in Japan and traveled South East Asia. From gloomy bear and plastic air fresheners to Cambodian children, his paintings are a collision of imagery pulled from snapshots of far away lands placed together to create new associations. Click here for more details
This is England Rialto Cinemas, from November 29 It’s 1983 and school is out. Twelve-year-old Shaun is a lonely boy growing up in a grim coastal town in northern England, whose father died fighting in the Falklands War. Over the course of the summer holiday he befriends a group of local skinheads. With his pent-up rage and frustration, Shaun finds exactly what he needs in the gang--mischief, mayhem and brotherhood. Check the trailer out here
A Streetcar Named Desire November 24 - December 22 Circa Theatre, Wellington Streetcar tells the story of Blanche Dubois, a fragile southern belle who visits her sister Stella and Stella's working-class husband Stanley Kowalski. Blanche, who hides a past not quite as pure as she'd like people to imagine, complicates matters immediately. Stanley suspects she's trying to swindle the couple and a power play between Blanche and Stanley arises. Click here for more details.
Rachel Hope, Out of Shadows Emerging artist Rachel Hope is an nzgirl from Auckland with big aspirations to become a global singer/songwriter. Her sound is very innocent and sweet folk, with a simple mix of acoustic guitar and heart-felt delicate vocals. Currently performing throughout New Zealand, Rachel has her sights set on the American music scene and will be heading over there next year to conquer the world. Check out Rachel's MySpace here.
Soundtrack 118 Great New Zealand Albums Grant Smithies (Craig Potton Publishing) Grant Smithies, an award winning music reviewer, has pulled together a fantastic collection of great New Zealand albums. Soundtrack features a wide range of bands: punk, folk, Flying Nun guitar bands, Polynesian hip hop, bedroom-studio techno, and Wellington soul. Guest contributors include Sam Neill, John Campbell and Karen Walker. An impressive book to leave out on the coffee table when your ‘muso’ friends come around for a drink Available from bookstores nationwide or online here RRP $49.99
