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Esther Leigh

Antoinette Godkin Gallery
30 York Street, Parnell
Auckland

14 May – 15 June 2019

Reviewed by John Hurrell for EyeContact

Esther Leigh, Verge 1, 2019. Mixed medium

In this mini-survey of what seem to be Esther Leigh photographs—a line-up that doesn’t include her much earlier but brilliant enamel/graphite paintings—two recent series (Verge and Map) are juxtaposed with two older projects (Wade and Idle/Glade). At times romantic, mysterious, and seductive, while remaining exasperatingly baffling (in terms of technique) Leigh‘s images taunt the viewer by playing off blurriness versus acuity, barely glimpsed polystyrene masses versus textured or smooth planar surfaces. You ask yourself: to make these did she (amongst other things) manipulate focal lengths, use tanks filled with dry ice, introduce digital wizardry, or shoot the film through layers of thin transparent acetate or thicker translucent (and perhaps reflective) Perspex?

Read full review at EyeContact