PROVENANCE

Private Collection, Auckland Purchased from Gow Langsford Gallery, 2008

EXHIBITED

Sea of Tranquility - Chris Heaphy Gow Langsford Gallery

Sea of Tranquility takes its name from the vast plains on the surface of the moon formed by ancient eruptions once erroneously thought to have been oceans by early astronomers. Witnessing the Apollo spacecraft land on the moon in 1969 at age four turned out to be a defining moment for Heaphy, whose fascination with astronauts, astronomy and star gazing was at that moment cemented. Works in the 2008 Gow Langsford Gallery show acknowledged this celestial fascination, with playful titles paying homage to space exploration; Armstrong Tranquility (2008), Aldrin Tranquility (2008) and Collins (2008) referenced space explorers Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins of the Apollo lunar landings and Columbia (2008) the space shuttle voyages of the 80's and 90's and it's final flight of 2003 . The skull, a generic symbol whose meaning can vary according to cultural context, is in Western Art genres of the vanitas and memento mori a potent reminder of death and mortality. It is frequently used throughout Heaphy's practise to apply to no man and every man. Although here too Heaphy acknowledges the specific alongside the general, the individual alongside the collective through symbolic portraits of the Apollo astronauts, their identities revealed in the work's title.

Heaphy's works ultimately allude to a wider human inquiry into the universe and our place within it. What makes us who we are - our patterns of behaviour and the small parts that comprise a whole being. Intimately tied to this idea, is the notion of identity and a self-reflective mortal yearning for life's meaning.

Chris Heaphy was born in New Zealand in 1965 and is of Ngai Tahu and European extraction. He attended the Canterbury school of Fine Art (BFA, Painting 1991). In 1998 he graduated from the RMIT University in Melbourne Australia (MFA, Painting). Heaphy has been successful in securing a number of grants and fellowships including: Te Waka Toi (1993;1994), the Olivia Spencer Bower Fellowship (1995), Creative New Zealand (1999) and a WINTEC research grant which enabled him to undertake a residency at Melbourne's RMIT University. Other residencies include Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2000- 2001) and the Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Residency, Champagne (2001). Heaphy has attracted significant international patronage and a stable presence within the competitive global art market. He enjoyed success at the 2007 Frieze Art Fair in London. Heaphy has exhibited extensively throughout Australasia and Europe and his work is included in numerous major public and private collections in New Zealand and further abroad. The companion piece from the Sea of Tranquility exhibition titled Aldrin Tranquility was purchased by the Chartwell Trust Collection.