Lot 19: Stephen Bambury "In a Certain Space" copper,

Stephen Bambury "In a Certain Space" copper, silver and 23k gold on two aluminium panels title inscribed, signed and dated 2001 verso 170mm x 340mm Stephen Bambury has been committed to abstraction for his entire career, one that stretches over thirty years. Within apparently restricted confines Bambury has negotiated an extensive and diverse space for his practice. A central element is the dissolution of the multiple dualities that appear in his work. They might be geometric, compositional, material and indeed conceptual. The architecture of the object and its interaction with physical space as opposed to a framed painterly or illusionistic space is a fundamental quality that has set Bambury aside. The works capacity to radiate both at a material and an architectonic level gives these small paintings a presence that belies their scale. Bambury's work has emerged as one of the most diligent and relentless expressions of the possibility of painting freed from noose of formalist dogma. The works capacity to carry metaphorical and narrative meaning, the diversity & individuality of his material culture, allied to his capacity to have the painting interact in the viewers physical and psychological space makes him a special figure within our visual culture. Stephen Bambury is represented by Jensen, Auckland and Jonathan Smart, Christchurch. EF