Portraits display pays homage to the 1980s

Big hair, pop-coloured clothing, Robert Muldoon, the Springbok tour, and homosexual law reform are some of the social and political shifts captured in the Face Time: Portraits from the 1980s exhibition, which has opened at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pū kenga Whakaata.

The exhibition features work, from public and private art collections throughout Aotearoa, made by many well-known artists during the 1980s that speak to some of the era’s major events. During her research, curator Milly Mitchell-Anyon purposely focused on works that were able to draw on memories of protest, political change, economic upheaval, globalisation, revival and the odd case of cultural cringe. ‘‘This exhibition is all about that ‘big 80s energy’ that we have come to associate with the decade.

‘‘Whether it was thinking big with Muldoon, the 1981 Springbok rugby tour protests, Lange’s ability to smell uranium, Rogernomics or concluding the decade with the . . . celebrations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1990, the 1980s was a period of immense change – a decade that might be described as a struggle between the past and the future,’’ MitchellAnyon said.

Artists represented include Pat Hanly, Deborah Bustin, Gordon Crook, Jeffrey Harris, Darcy Nicholas, Paul Woodruffe, Mary McIntyre, Robert Wallace, Stuart Page, Michael Shannon, Trevor Moffitt, Michael Illingworth, Tony Fomison and Fiona Clark.

Featuring a wide range of mediums – including photography, ceramics, books, T-shirts, sculpture and oil paintings – the works are a palate of excessively bold primary colours.

Mitchell-Anyon said there was an ingrained nostalgia associated with the 1980s, ‘‘to the point that within a contemporary context we keep reinventing the 80s as a trend, a cultural moment that we wish to keep reliving. Think about the revival of 80s-themed parties, revisiting movies like Ghostbusters or Blade Runner, any clothing rack right now’’.

Exhibition runs to February 13, gallery located at Shed 11 on Wellington’s waterfront.