PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Auckland
Acquired from Starkwhite, Auckland

EXHIBITED
Less Than Zero, Starkwhite, Auckland

ILLUSTRATED
Peter Stichbury, The Alumni, (Starkwhite and Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, 2010) p.37

The exhibition called 'Less Than Absolute Zero' by Peter Stichbury, at Starkwhite Gallery until November 3, provides experiences of a different order. His work is wry, poignant and based entirely on the human face rather than abstract gestures. Yet there is an abstract quality in these paintings, the faces are stylised, subtlety distorted so that we are aware that the people portrayed are never quite what they want to be. In this way, a face called Man Pretending to be James Schamus seems to be the perfect egg-head, scientist or pontificating commentator. The egg-shaped outline of his balding head emphasises this and his spectacles, thin mouth and tidy bow tie. But it is all too neat, his staring eyes shows he is not entirely at home in his role. He's a nice guy, but he is not what he thinks he is.

Stichbury's paintings have always focused on the human face. He began with beautiful boys and girls embarrassed about the roles they were expected to play. His subtle distortion rounds out the faces so, in his previous show, they fitted well when painted on old lawn bowls. In these more conventional paintings, the roundness that emphases oddity still works best for him. When the paintings become a bit flat, the feeling of unease doesn't really work.

TJ MCNAMARA (NZ Herald, October 2007)