Aotearoa Art Fair Presents TENT

Starkwhite will present Fiona Pardington’s new exhibition, Tarota, at Parlour Projects as part of Aotearoa Art Fair's new initiative, TENT. 

“Man passes through forests of symbols” – Baudelaire

“Everything that exists is merely a symbol” – Goethe

Tarota is the newest body of still lives from Dr Fiona Pardington MNZM, Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, (Ngāi Tahu, Kati Mamoe and Ngāti Kahungunu). Named for the Tarot deck of divinatory cards and their ancient archetypal symbols, Tarota is Pardington’s exploration of her own visual vocabulary of private and mystical symbolism. The aesthetic of the images is partly inspired by the symbolist and art-nouveau influenced drawings of the occultist and artist Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956). Pardington paints the bottles herself, embellishing them with therapeutic drawings motivated by Spare, signalling an expansion of her practice beyond the camera. Tarota sits in a liminal space between European esotericism, Māori tikanga, and Pardington’s unique personal artistic vision.

Image: Fiona Pardington, Still Life (Three of Spades), 2021, Pigment inks on Hahnemuhle paper, Framed in hand lacquered black Goldie moulding with AR72, Mural scale 176 x 140cm, Edition of 10 + 1AP, courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite