SAM FOLEY -

WHAKANEWHA

'In the spring of 2023 I was on Waiheke Island meeting a client for a commission. I was kindly given a quick tour with a broad and engaging overview of the various goings-on and concerns on the island. There was certainly potential, and when the commission did not quite go as planned, I found myself thinking that it had been almost 5 years since my last solo show outside of the South Island. I guess having a young family will do that and while having to hunker down and travel less has not been a bad thing at all, it felt like time to look further afield. 

The last time I ventured into the forest with a series was back in 2021. I was looking at the wooded areas in and around the Wakatipu Basin, and mostly painting South Island beech. With the subject of my last 2 exhibitions being primarily urban I needed to get back into the forest, so Whakanewha Regional Park became the obvious subject for this new series. It offers a real point of difference with its North Island predominance of nikau, kauri, and punga. I have painted similar North Island forest before, out in Titirangi when my parents lived there for a time in the late 2000s. Whilst Waiheke is not known for its native bush, being a major littoral destination for its beaches and sailing, there is certainly enough in Whakanewha to warrant a good look around, resulting in my exhibition for Gallery Anomalous.'

Sam Foley is a renowned contemporary New Zealand landscape painter. His detailed paintings portray and often combine the natural and urban world, merging aspects of hyper-realism and photo-realism.

 For more info - www.samfoley.co.nz/about