Rohan Wealleans: Apocalyptic Intuition

Apocalyptic Intuition, a new body of work by Auckland-based painter Rohan Wealleans, transforms the Gallery space into something other, magical and alien. Wealleans further pushes his investigations into the possibilities of paint as a life-giving physical substance and the act of painting as a transformative or shamanistic force that reaches far beyond rational explanation and purpose.

Paintings and sculptural objects combine in this exhibition to suggest an allusive character-based narrative rooted in fantasy and science fiction. This is a place of enchantment, spells, quests, and paint: layers upon layers of the acrylic house paint Wealleans uses to create these other realms and summon the characters that dwell there.

Apocalyptic Intuition continues the narrative drive of Wealleans’s recent practice with its creation of fictional or alien worlds, often at moments of encounter or rupture. For an artist obsessed with the material qualities of his medium, Wealleans never allows paint to sit still. It is always in the process of becoming something or somewhere else.