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Images from New Plymouth's Govett-Brewster Art Gallery exhibition Tom Kreisler, the first major survey of this influential New Zealand artist’s work in almost two decades. (All images courtesy Tom Kreisler Estate).

The exhibition presents a major reconsideration of the work of Tom Kreisler (1938 – 2002) and his impact on fellow artists, writers and critical thinkers across New Zealand’s cultural communities.

Govett-Brewster Director Rhana Devenport says, “The Tom Kreisler exhibition promises to be one of the most significant surveys of New Zealand art of recent times. A reconsideration at this moment of Kreisler’s practice and contribution to New Zealand art is both important and timely”.

Curated by Tom’s youngest son Aaron, the exhibition (3 March - 13 May 2007) features more than 40 large-scale paintings, altered readymades and works on found materials from both national and international collections. It also showcases a number of works for the first time.

These works, along with numerous drawings and notebooks, expose the complex layers of meaning in Kreisler’s work and pay particular attention to his meditations on the intricate connection between comedy and tragedy.

“Kreisler was preoccupied by the big themes in life, love, death, danger and happiness. He also had a tremendous, often pointed, sense of humour that I’m sure audiences will appreciate,” says curator Aaron Kreisler.

Argentinean-born Kreisler lived and worked in New Zealand for most of his life. He was sent to this country to live with relatives at the age of 14. This move was originally intended as a short stay but ended up being a 50-year relocation. This geographical, cultural and psychological displacement developed in the artist a strongly independent vision evident throughout his body of work.

Kreisler’s first interest was not in art, but in language and he worked for a number of years as a copywriter, poetry editor and art reviewer. He started painting in the mid-sixties where his interest in text quickly materialised, seen especially in his late paintings that toy with translation, the cliché and everyday slang.

The exhibition is accompanied by the release of a major new book, comma dot dogma that includes texts by Deborah Cain, Wystan Curnow, John Hurrell and Aaron Kreisler. This publication brings together a series of critical insights into Kreisler’s legacy and also offers an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the scope and depth of his vision.