Art as Proof of Life: 31 March – 24 April 2026

posted in: Eastside Gallery, Past | 0

Opening event: 5.30-7pm, Tuesday 31 March. All welcome.

Art as a way of living — urgent, embodied, essential.

This exhibition gathers 11 local artists whose practices are driven by daily insistence, vital compulsion, or outright obsession. These are the works that keep them up at night: pieces pulled from the depths and heights of emotion.

Across painting, sculpture, woodcut, moving image and textile work, the show traces the continual reworking of ideas an artist can’t let go of — art as wild instinct, immersion and intensity. Some seek to capture or confront childhood memories; others to lean on whānau for artistic inspiration. Still others strive to find an authentic voice amid the overwhelming flood of mediatised images.

Eastside artists: Anton Zamorkin, Deanna Morgan, Elizabeth Faye, Judy Rogers, Laurie Roodt, Nicholas Williamson, Nina Cook, Tom McCone and Xinran Yu.

Mini artists: George Bassett-Smith and Olivia Mercer.

Y northweest corner aj
Y xinran aj
Y Southwest corner aj
Y southeast corner aj
Art as proof of life-24
Y Nina aj
Nina Cook
Y Anton aj
Anton Zamorkin
Y Laurie aj
Laurie Roodt
Y Judy aj
Judy Rogers
Y Nick aj
Nicholas Williamson
Y Deanna aj
Deanna Morgan
Y Liz aj
Elizabeth Faye Riach
Y Xinran solo aj
Xinran Yu
Y Tom aj
Tom McCone
Phsychosensorial Surrender_3Nina Cook,oil on canvas, 1000x750mm
Nina Cook, “Psychosensorial Surrender III,” oil on canvas, 2026