aberhart

Gregory O'Brien & Justin Paton - Victoria University Press- $125

This sumptuous volume, (it would not be an overstatement to describe it as glorious), is unsurprisingly one of the shortlisted titles in the illustrative section of the 2008 Montana NZ Book Awards.

O'Brien and Paton, two of our most respected arts writers, as well as being curators, O'Brien at Wellington's City Gallery, Paton formerly at Dunedin's Public Art Gallery, (now at the Christchurch Art Gallery), and this book was published alongside the Aberhart Exhibition which was exhibited in those two galleries during 2007. It is now touring venues throughout New Zealand so if it comes to your town be sure not to miss it.

O'Brien "pursues the motif of the horizon through Aberhart's work, considering the many journeys that his career encompasses and the shelters and structures seen along the way, while Paton focuses on the human presences that quietly animate Aberhart's extraordinary body of work."

Aberhart is, of course, one of our greatest-ever photographers and enjoys a fine reputation far beyond these shores. There are significant collections of his work in public art galleries on both sides of the Tasman. He has been in the forefront of New Zealand photography since the late 1970's, and since 1983 has lived and worked in Russell in the Bay of Islands.

aberhart is a fine piece of publishing.