Elizabeth Rees

Elizabeth Rees

Elizabeth Rees was born in Palmerston North in 1959. She has a Diploma in Fine Arts from Queen Elizabeth College and the University of Canterbury.

Elizabeth’s works explore relationships between the body, the mind and the environment in which we exist. In recent years her works have depicted the human form in motion. Moving towards, or away from the unknown.

Previous bodies of work show figures at intersections and within moody and still landscapes. ‘They are … about people at intersections or crossroads of life. What we are witnessing are epiphanies, times of decision and apprehension. The works become analogies for points of change and transition in the stretch of human life, the physical, psychological and spiritual.’

As with her figure works, Elizabeth’s rich and moody landscapes have a psychological element. Each enigmatic space conjures the feeling of isolation, potentiality and mystery. She achieves this through a controlled and unique use of paint. Her work is on carefully primed canvases, enhancing the luminous qualities of oil paint.

The painted marks shift on a continuum of gesture. From the sometimes raw and immediate, to the otherwise refined and unfolding. Elizabeth utilises her painterly confidence to express a change of mood. She uses light and colour to enhance the atmosphere of the work, and at times to mute it.

 

Rees has exhibited very successfully with several sell out shows since 1989. She is represented in major private collections in New Zealand and the USA.

Examples of Elizabeth’s work can be viewed at Mobile Art Gallery in Mt Eden.