A bird in the hand...

There's quite a good show on at Pataka at the moment looking at Birds in contemporary art. I'll freely admit to being a bit of a fan of thematic contemporary exhibitions, (probably due to being involved in a few) and this one doesn't disappoint.

Lots of really nice works, from a range of emerging and established NZ artists. A good overview of what's happenign now, particularly at a regional level, though lacks a very strong argument to raise questions beyond a collection of works featuring birds.

I always expected Te Papa to be delivery exhbitions of this level, but sadly not. It will be interesting to see if much of Pataka's lead position in the curation field will be eaten into when the revitalised Dowse reopens its doors later this year...