So you’re forgiven for thinking it’s some kind of political thing, like the G8 Summit but better by 9 world leaders. Funnily enough, if you type it into google it comes up with a liberal-conservative political party from Serbia.
What it actually is, in this case, is an exhibition of work by Unitec’s 4th year painting students. Held at Te Karanga Gallery, the show opened last night and runs till the 19th of August.

Student work can be a mixed bag, design shows especially will always have a few gems mixed in with a several smug, poorly-typeset dogs. But having said that I really liked this show. It doesn’t have an overall theme or style linking the work other than that the artists take a class or two together, so it varies a lot. Some of it’s quite formal, other works are very loose, a lot of it’s figurative in a sort of skewed, almost cartoonish way. It all looks good, and more importantly looks interesting. Even the bits that wear their influences a little too prominently on their sleeves do it with enough flair and spin that it all seems to work (less charitable people might suggest that actually ‘student’ is an overall style, suggesting that it means the work will be angsty and technically flawed. These disparaging people really annoyed me when I was studying, and I’m trying not to become one now that I’m old. I mean older).
There are all the appropriate references – skulls, owls, Ren from Ren & Stimpy. At least two of the artists there had paint on their clothes. If that doesn’t shout dedication to the medium I don’t know what does.

The wine was Portuguese, it tastes quite nice but it smells like those green stink-bug things that you used to find heaps all the time when you were a kid but I haven’t seen for years. maybe they all got turned into wine...
Have you ever noticed that when you drink red wine and then spit, it looks like blood? Like you have a bleeding tooth? Unrelatedly, if you drink grape juice and then brush your teeth and then spit, your spit is grey, like ash grey. It’s very odd.

Anyway. The show’s on till the 19th of August and it’s definitely worth a look. I liked it a lot.

G17 (I forgot to ask anyone why it was called that, sorry)
Unitec 4th year painters
Te Karanga Gallery
208 K’Rd, upstairs
Mondays 12-6, Tuesday-Friday 10-6