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PHILIPPA BLAIR (1945-2025) – Constant Weave – 4-28 Nov, 2025

Tangler Tracker, by Philippa Blair, 2014, oil on canvas, diptych, 1020 x 2040mm, SOLD

CONSTANT WEAVE – an exhibition of paintings, drawings, works on paper, photographs and prints celebrating a remarkable artist.

It has been hard saying goodbye to Philippa. I first encountered her forty years ago when I was a student at Ilam School of Art. She turned up as a visiting lecturer and was a powerhouse, changing the atmosphere in every room she entered. I was a quiet thing and found this vivacious, energetic woman daunting. When we first started working together on a lithographic project in 1985 I had no idea that we would become enduring friends.
While she was drawing on lithographic stones she talked unceasingly, about everything! It took a long time before I realised she liked to be interrupted, the reason for this being that if I didn’t interrupt she would never really know who it was she was talking to. It surprised me that when I did open up she listened completely. Our friendship found a solid path. On a professional level, I was at first her printer and later became her dealer. But aside from any of that, we were primarily women, fellow practitioners, trying to find a way through the pitfalls of life and career. Over the forty years of our connection we each went through a lot; heartbreak and hurdles. Philippa taught me that art and life are interrelated. And to survive as a positive creative being there must be a constant weave between the two.

  • Marian Maguire

20 Instagram photos, individually titled, 2017-2020, digital inkjet print on cotton rag paper, 350 x 350mm, $450 Installation view of 'Dance Score' lithographs, Instagram photos & 'Tangler Tracker' Installation view of 'Tangler Tracker', 'Structures for Living Systems #8', 'Grounded'
Selection of works on paper 2009-2020 Installation view of 'Afloat', drawings and lithographs Installation view of 4 unframed lithographs and 1 framed charcoal drawing From Left to Right: 'Kiva: Anasaz', 'Temple', 'Manoeuvre', 'Two Hearts', 'Untitled'Installation view of 'Afloat', 'Paths less travelled', 'Point of view', 'Syncopation'

VIEW THE EXHIBITION BOOKLET HERE

Philippa Blair was born in Christchurch in 1945 and died earlier this year in Auckland at the age of 79. She is widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading abstract painters, exhibiting extensively both here and overseas. Her approach evolved constantly as she mapped new terrain. Each work is a multifaceted journey, alive with memory and imagination, guided yet unplanned. The paintings are structured yet spontaneous. Philippa Blair’s fearless commitment to experimentation kept her work fresh right up to her last sequence of major paintings Afloat, exhibited at PG gallery192 in 2024. Constant Weave is an exhibition of paintings, drawings, works on paper, photographs and prints selected from the artist’s estate and the collection of Marian Maguire. These offer a glimpse into the creative process of this dynamic and important artist whose energy contributed to the New Zealand’s art scene for decades.

 

CURATOR’S FLOORTALK with Marian Maguire: Sat 22 Nov, 11am

Afloat, by Philippa Blair, 2024, oil, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 4 canvasses, 1780 x 1980mm, $20,000   Syncopation, by Philippa Blair, 2024, oil, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 4 canvasses, 1780 x 1980mm, $20,000

Grounded, by Philippa Blair, 2022, oil and acrylic on canvas, diptych, 1520 x 1015mm, $13,500 Pond, by Philippa Blair, 2022, oil and acrylic on canvas, diptych, 1520 x 1015mm, $13,500  Delta Shelter, by Philippa Blair, 2017, oil and acrylic on canvas, 1520 x 1015mm, $13,500  Paths less travelled, by Philippa Blair, 2019, oil and acrylic on canvas, diptych, 715 x 1120mm, $8000
Tilt, by Philippa Blair, 2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 610 x 460mm, $3300   Point of view, by Philippa Blair, 2022, oil and acrylic on canvas, 510 x 510mm SOLD   January, by Philippa Blair, 2020, oil and acrylic on canvas, 455 x 455mm, $2900   Structures for living systems, by Philippa Blair, 2018, oil and acrylic on canvas, 455 x 455mm, $2900

Philippa Blair studied, taught and exhibited extensively; art imbued her life. She graduated from the Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University and by the 1970s was exhibiting widely across New Zealand and Australia. Returning to her hometown of Christchurch in 1985, she took up a position as a visiting lecturer at the Ilam School of Fine Arts, and began exploring lithography with Marian Maguire, a recent graduate. By the late 1980s she had extended further afield, with solo shows in New York City. Major exhibitions followed, including Three from New Zealand: Philippa Blair, Christine Hellyar, Ralph Hotere at the Long Beach Museum of Art, California (1990), and a Survey Exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Hamilton (1992). Between 1993 and 1994, Blair taught painting at the Elam School of Fine Arts before shifting to Los Angeles in 1995, where she lived and worked with her husband John for nearly two decades, returning to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 2014. Since then, amongst her many exhibitions, were six significant solo shows at PG Gallery192. In 2020, Philippa was the subject of a major survey exhibition at Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery in Auckland – Down Under Cover was curated by Chloé Geoghegan and served as an acknowledgement of her incredible achievements.

Philippa Blair exhibited her work internationally for fifty five years, with over 100 solo exhibitions and over 300 group exhibitions to her credit. Her work is widely represented in public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Malaysia.