Roundabout - City Gallery, Wellington

 Poutokomanawa, by Lyonel Grant  Image courtesy Roundabout, City Gallery, Wellington

This  diverse and ambitious show  will take over the entirety of the Gallery's main exhibition spaces.

Roundabout will include works by Shane Cotton, Lyonel Grant, Jacqueline Fraser, Rangi Kipa, Fiona Pardington, Michael Parekowhai, John Pule, and Lisa Reihana, amongst others. These artists will be exhibited alongside a dazzling display of contemporary art from around the globe, including Australia, China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, India, Nepal, Bhutan, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

In this, the only New Zealand season of roundabout, City Gallery Wellington will offer New Zealand audiences the opportunity to encounter internationally acclaimed artworks never before seen on these shores and to place these in fruitful conversation with significant New Zealand art.

Paula Savage, Director of City Gallery Wellington, says, "roundabout is an exciting way for us to bring 2010 to a close, by all accounts a momentous year in the history of the Gallery. We are thrilled to offer New Zealand audiences the chance to experience what really is a cornucopia of contemporary art. From the confrontational statements of indigenous Australian artist Vernon Ah Kee to the mesmerising art of Gonkar Gyatso, who creates his work through the detailed patterning of store-bought stickers, the work in roundabout unpicks western concepts ubiquitous in the visual arts and has much to say about our globalised world."

roundabout is drawn from the collection of David Teplitzky and Peggy Scott, who have a special interest in contemporary New Zealand art and support a number of this country's most interesting visual artists. Given this focus, City Gallery Wellington is an apt starting point for roundabout, which will be embarking on a global tour, moving to Tel Aviv after its Wellington season.

An extensive catalogue has been produced to accompany roundabout and will be available at City Gallery Wellington. Edited by Elaine W Ng, Editor of ArtAsiaPacific magazine, this publication will provide insights into the works and tease out the numerous and complex issues raised by the show. Contributors include Professor Nicholas Thomas, Dr Rupert Richard Arrowsmith, Don J Cohn and Marisa Mazria-Katz. This catalogue also features an interview with roundabout collector David Teplitzky and a foreword by Tenzin Robert AF Thurman, Jey Song Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia University.

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