Auckland based artist Graham Fletcher continues his Lounge Room Tribalism series with a collection of new works opening at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts on February 11.  Entitled Situation Rooms, the exhibition is the result of his recent prestigious overseas residency at the Vermont Studio Centre located in the New England state of Vermont.  The residency hosts over 600 artists and writers from across the USA and world every year.

 The artworks picture lounge rooms, or domestic settings that display indigenous artefacts from various cultures.  Although the combination of interiors and artefacts are fictitious, they are based on real spaces and objects.

Fletcher was inspired by 1960s and 70s interior design magazines for his interiors, while he himself is a collector of indigenous artefacts from around the world.  His collection from the Pacific and Africa  have been a direct inspiration for these works.

 Fletcher also reflects the early 20th Century Surrealists who collected indigenous art to study and often displayed them in the home alongside their own paintings.

 "The artefacts  are rendered quirky and compelling," says Te Tuhi curator Bruce Phillips. "They seem to take on a life of their own with a unique character.  Being non-specific indigenous objects, they also take on a new power and symbolism beyond decorative."

 By referencing this particular period of fashion and design, Fletcher comments on the acquisition of  indigenous artefacts as decor.  In these paintings Fletcher considers the loss of history and sacredness of the objects that occurred due to this fashion of decoration.  However, most importantly he considers the potential for these objects to gain new significance within the domestic environment.

 Says Phillips, "Fletcher looks to the domestic interior as a potential liberator of indigenous  artefacts, as opposed to being displayed in a museum collection where they are classified in a scientific way. As opposed to museums, interior settings allow indigenous artefacts the potential to take on new meanings."

 Situation Rooms by Graham Fletcher opens at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts on February 11 and runs until 15 April.  Te Tuhi is situated at 13 Reeves Rd, Pakuranga.