Gate and Rachel Shearer

Gate and Rachel Shearer

Live at the Gus Fisher Gallery

Friday 13 August, 7pm

$10 entry, no bookings

A live sound performance in the gallery’s Grand Foyer from Dunedin-based Gate and Auckland artist Rachel Shearer. Gate is primarily helmed by Dead C member and exhibiting artist, Michael Morley, who has produced more than 60 releases for a wide range of projects and international record labels. A Republic of Sadness, his first new LP as Gate in over a decade, has just been released on US label Ba Da Bing.

Rachel Shearer has previously performed as Lovely Midget and as a member of Angelhead and Queen Meanie Puss, releasing material on such iconic labels as Ecstatic Piece, Family Vineyard, Corpus Hermeticum and Flying Nun. Her lovingly crafted soundscapes have also appeared in music and sound design for films, and as sound installations.

This event takes place as part of the Gus Fisher Gallery exhibition Julian Dashper: Professional Practice, which looks back at the career of one of New Zealand’s most original contemporary artists. Music and sound played an important role in the late Dashper’s work, from the drumkit installations that began in 1991, to the record pressings that started the following year, to the Circle Records label he started with Australian artist John Nixon in 1996.

Dashper’s first release was recorded late at night during a trip to Dunedin. In a 1999 interview with Popwatch magazine, Dashper credits this session, recorded with Morley, as initiating this aspect of his work:

“As a kid I learnt the trumpet, but Michael Morley started me on my first recording in 1992. This was the Julian Dashper Gate Experience. Everything followed on from that. I still take a keen interest in Michael’s work although our projects are about different things. Mine is art always and his is, I suspect, divided between art and music.”

This performance is followed with a gallery talk by Morley the next day:

Saturday 14 August, 1pm

Artist talk: Artist and musician Michael Morley (Gate/The Dead C) responds to the exhibition Professional Practice with a talk about the use of records in his own work, his connections to Julian Dashper’s record-making, and relationships between painting and music, image and sound. 

Julian Dashper: Professional Practice

23 July – 28 August 2010

THE GUS FISHER GALLERY                      GALLERY HOURS

The Kenneth Myers Centre                      Tuesday - Friday 10am - 5pm

74 Shortland St                                      Saturday 12pm - 4pm

Auckland, New Zealand                           Closed Public Holidays

Telephone: 923 6646

www.gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz