Look onto the rays of the new stoner sun rising
an exhibition by Tim Middleton
5th Sep - 10th Oct 2025
From left to right: ‘Figure of Wrongness’, ‘Low Interest Rate’, and ‘Climate of Change’.
We are please to present an exhibition of work by Ōtautahi / Christchurch based artist, Tim Middleton. A recognised name in the Ōtautahi art-scene, we are excited to be bringing Middleton’s work down south for the eyes of Wanaka, Queentstown and Central Otago to behold.
Join us for the exhibition opening, Friday 5th September, from 5pm.
Iron your finest black-denim and be prepared to confront the broader questions in life. The exhibition is a mix of work from 2024 / 25 and speaks to many topics of life today in a dark and humorous way.
“I am not a painter.
By declaring that, let me introduce a suite of paintings I have made.
In the year 2012, I graduated from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts with a BFA (Hons) in sculpture. I rarely make sculpture.
This collection, freed from the confines of storage, is part of a current that runs throughout my practice and is centered around an expanded field of drawing. It just so happens these little guys are pigmented, which by their very nature, can be read as 'paintings'. If a label is needed.
These drawn paintings scrutinise our, seemingly, accepted situation of looking at the pretty flames while ignoring the fire. War, famine, disease, death. . .apocalyptic, biblical themes that seem quite nourished and healthy in an epoch of a rapidly changing climate. Heavy themes, heavy times, but it has always been my wont to couch these very human issues in a polished haze of the comic book and gothic humour in free association with the scurf, grunge and detritus of the everyday.
And the title? That has been lifted from a song, Holy Mountain, by those Sabbath-esque doom-lords, Sleep, off their 1993 album 'Sleep's Holy Mountain'. Heavy metal entered my life when I was young and impressionable and along with surfing, ruined it.
I am not a painter.’
‘Inflammatory Text (A-Z) Part One’, acrylic on canvas, 435 × 465mm