Rands on Rands

The Visual Arts Club on 3 April heard Collette Rands speak on her own work.

A collection of her paintings was recently on display in the library foyer.

"Most of the paintings are called Wellington Land. They tend to be in earthen, organic forms," she said.

"I react against any easy reactions to my paintings. I aim to make people feel that they are not to get caught up in the illusion. I try to do away with the painting. I try to minimise the conditioned reaction, the '. . . . that hill is just like the one near . . .' reaction."

"You have to learn how to read paintings," she said. We interpret photographs automatically yet "the eskimos could not comprehend a photo when they first saw it."

Collette was asked if Colin McMahon has influenced her work. She replied, "we're both interested in simplicity of means and honesty of canvas, but I am more concerned than he with technique. Colin is especially concerned with immediacy and emotion in his paintings."

Replying to a question about the dominant land theme in her paintings Collette said, "I feel this is because the land is so strong in New Zealand. People are aware of their own impermanence."