Exhibition | Francis Upritchard Jealous Saboteurs | MUMA

 Francis Upritchard, Blue and Green Scarf 2012, modelling material, foil, wire, paint, cloth, human hair. Collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, gift of the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, 2013. Image courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London.

Francis Upritchard, Blue and Green Scarf 2012, modelling material, foil, wire, paint, cloth, human hair. Collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, gift of the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, 2013. Image courtesy of the artist and Kate MacGarry, London.

Exhibition Dates: 13 February – 16 April 2016 

Opening celebration: Saturday 13 February, 2-5pm (including a conversation, 2-3pm, see below)

Francis Upritchard: Jealous Saboteurs is a joint project with City Gallery Te Whare Toi, Wellington and has been curated by their Chief Curator Robert Leonard and MUMA’s Director Charlotte Day.

Spanning almost twenty years of work, MUMA is excited to present the first major survey exhibition of London-based, New Zealand-born artist, Francis Upritchard. From her early collections of mock burial artefacts, to primate-like figures constructed from discarded fur coats, and her more recent enigmatic gurus, Upritchard has developed a highly idiosyncratic language of sculpture that frequently borrows from craft practices and a broad range of references from the deep recesses of museum collections, folklore and counter-cultures to high modernist design.

This exhibition will include little-seen and significant early artworks, her arresting sloths, a selection of curious personal and ritualistic artefacts and talismans, small sculptures accompanied by their bespoke furniture supports, as well as recent life-size free-standing technicolour figures, such as Blue and Green Scarf 2013 (pictured above), which blur the lines between the archaic and futuristic. For detailed information please visit website…

Francis Upritchard was born in 1976 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. A graduate of Christchurch’s Ilam School of Fine Arts, Upritchard moved to London in 1998, where she became one of New Zealand’s most successful international artists. While she maintains a close relationship with New Zealand, returning regularly to exhibit, Upritchard has rarely exhibited in Australia. In 2008 her exhibition Rainwob II was presented at Artspace, Sydney and Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, and in the same year she was curated by Charlotte Day into the TarraWarra Biennial, Lost and Found: An Archeology of the Present.

In 2006 Upritchard won New Zealand’s prestigious Walters Prize, and since that time has had major solo exhibitions at museums such as the Vienna Secession in 2009, Nottingham Contemporary in 2012, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Centre in 2012, Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art in 2013, and the Hammer Museum, LA, in 2014. In 2009, she represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale with her installation Save Yourself, which was later re-presented at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. Her work is in the international collections of the Hammer, Paisley Museum, Scotland, and Saatchi Gallery, London; in New Zealand, at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Plymouth and Te Papa; and, in Australia, at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, MONA, Hobart, and the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. She is represented by Kate MacGarry, London; Anton Kern Gallery, New York; and Ivan Anthony Gallery, Auckland.

Public Programs

Francis Upritchard’s Creative Collaborations
Saturday 13 February 2016, 2.00pm-3.00pm

Please join us at the opening of Jealous Saboteurs for this informal conversation between Francis Upritchard and German-born jeweller Karl Fritsch, who will explore the artist’s unique sculptural language and the multiplicity of artisan and craft traditions Upritchard has incorporated into her practice, including collaborations with UK fashion house Peter Pilotto, Karl Fritsch and Italian designer Martino Gamper. This discussion will be convened by Paola di Trocchio, Curator International Fashion and Textiles, National Gallery of Victoria. For more information…

Hippy Hippy Shake: Minna Gilligan’s Fabulous Fashion Workshop for Kids
Saturday 5 March 2016, 10.30pm-1.00pm. This is a FREE event, however places are limited. Bookings essential: kate.barber@monash.edu

Riffing off fashions from the 1960s and 1970s, kids (9-12y/o) will work with Melbourne-based contemporary artist Minna Gilligan to design and construct their own fantastical fashion garment exploring and experimenting with colour, pattern, texture and embellishment. For more information see the MUMA website.