Arcade Awning, Piazza Maggiore, Bologna (2)

Things concealed and revealed, elusive and apparent, interior and exterior, are the binary allusions implicit in Doris Lusk's Arcade Awnings, a series of eleven works, all in the Gallery's collection. The images were inspired by the gracefully-draped archways in the piazzas of Bologna and Venice seen during a European study tour in 1974-75. '. . . I was so attracted by the texture, variety and mobility of the light canvas awnings that I recorded them on the spot with sketches and slides, but my intention toward them at that time . . . went no further'. Developed later in New Zealand, Arcade Awnings play on notions of performance and theatricality while exploiting the spatial ambiguities of open and enclosed forms. The controlled fluidity of Lusk's virtuoso watercolour technique suggests the movement of the canvas awnings against the static solidity of monumental stone architecture. The works articulate an innovative and expressive perception of practical functions within an historical environment. The Arcade Awnings represented a departure for Lusk, who was, and is, more commonly recognised as a key figure in New Zealand landscape painting. Associated with artists such as Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, Bill Sutton and Olivia Spencer Bower, she was a member of the progressive Christ-church Group and an influential teacher, who sustained a long career as an exhibiting artist and a lecturer at the University of Canterbury. (from The Guide, 2001)

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