Seventeen New Zealand artists have made the cut for Tauranga Art Gallery's All Black exhibition, which kicks off on Saturday.

The fact there are 17 in the line-up and not 15 is down to the Gallery's Director Penelope Jackson willingly admitting rugby is not her specialist area of knowledge.

Seventeen New Zealand artists have made the cut for Tauranga Art Gallery's All Black exhibition, which kicks off on Saturday.

The fact there are 17 in the line-up and not 15 is down to the Gallery's Director Penelope Jackson willingly admitting rugby is not her specialist area of knowledge.

The selection of 17 includes some of New Zealand's most famous artists - Ralph Hotere, Nigel Brown, Dame Robin White, and Anne Noble.

"As our country revels in rugby mania it is refreshing to think about what is considered our national colour - black - in a different context," Penelope Jackson says.

The full squad is: Ralph Hotere, Alex Bartleet, Ben Cauchi, Sean McDonnell, Anne Noble, Tony Fomison, Peter Robinson, Gordon Walters, Dame Robin White, Mladen Bizumic, Philip Clairmont, Arie Hellendoorn, Dennis Knight Turner, Peter Peryer, Nigel Brown, and Edward Bullmore.

The cut includes one of New Zealand's earliest surrealists, Edward Bullmore, who was a very keen rugby player as well as an artist and played representative rugby for Canterbury, Auckland, and Bay of Plenty.

All Black - an exhibition highlighting the use of black in New Zealand art - runs at Tauranga Art Gallery from August 27 to October 16.

The Gallery would like to thank Anne Noble and McNamara Gallery, Whanganui, The University of Auckland Art Collection, The James Wallace Arts Trust.

Image:

NIGEL BROWN, The Black Singlet, Tauranga Art Gallery Trust Collection