Sometimes a repetitive act has a way of taking over. When repeated, the smallest gesture can become endowed with new strength and meaning, each iteration building on that which came before . . .

Between Lines features Peter Gouge and Zoë Rapley – two artists whose practices explore acts of linear reiteration. The works in this exhibition are to some extent exercises in the art of making; they are about measurement, materials, and time; they are about drawing one line and then another, and about that which emerges in the space between those lines.

Peter Gouge’s paintings radiate a particular sense of control. Equally evocative of 1980s Soviet puzzle game Tetris or the intricate parquet floor of some ancient European palace, these small paintings are made up of a network of individually painted gridded squares. Working within the limitations of the grid, Gouge exploits the qualities of this ordering structure; exploring a seemingly endless but ultimately finite number of possibilities in variation of patterning, colour, and density of paint application.

For this exhibition Zoë Rapley has produced a wayward work on paper. Hanging off the wall and spilling onto the floor of the gallery, Tract II (2012) asserts itself as something between drawing, performance, and sculpture. Rapley began her work with three known elements: a gallery space, a roll of brown paper, and 99 sticks of white chalk. Those were the points of departure from which the artist began. The rest was to emerge later, in the making of the work.

Peter Gouge (1984) is based in Wellington. He has a Bachelor of Design from Unitec, Auckland (2008) and has most recently been included in the exhibitions Five Years, Tim Melville Gallery (2012), and Too Little Too Late, Snake Pit Gallery (2012).

Zoë Rapley (1989) recently relocated to Auckland from Wellington. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts, Massey University Wellington (2010) and her work was most recently included in the The Weight of Jupiter, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington (2011).

You can see more of Peter Gouge’s work here:

http://petergouge.tumblr.com/

http://timmelville.com/exhibitions/showArticle.php?file=11_29_elliotcollins-petergouge-wayneyoule.xml&year=2011#/img/1

And Zoe Rapley’s work here:

http://www.enjoy.org.nz/node/1393