The Life Artistic - Abby Wendy

The complex but ultimately joyous experience of expressing the human condition. By Kaiyun Tan
Art is commonly perceived to be the consummate example of freedom of expression. Yet some artists are trapped, says Wellington artist Abby Wendy.

“Some artists paint themselves into a corner,” she says, delivering a wonderfully poetic and succinct turn of phrase during our conversation at her house. She speaks out against the simplistic pigeonholing of any work of art, and of the stylistic restrictions that artists sometimes place upon themselves.

Abby, however, is not so fond of such rigid artistic rules. Her wide-ranging repertoire of work features everything from landscapes to portraits, to paintings strongly influenced by Maori artistic practices and themes. She thinks that art should be fun – a notion she believes should extend to most things in life, but which unfortunately is often neglected.

Born and raised in Wellington, Abby spent her childhood in Island Bay; part of a creative family. She tells me of her mother’s wonderfully sculptural craftwork and of her sister’s amazing aptitude in sewing. Abby is the first painter in the family.

Her earliest memories of painting in primary school are ones of pure joy. But Abby left it behind after college to pursue education and a career in electrical engineering. It was only when life took a turn, and a baby boy arrived, that she returned to study. This time it was to art school, where she rediscovered her passion for painting and decided to become an artist.

The Learning Connexion – originally located in Island Bay but which has since moved to Lower Hutt – was where Abby studied art. It was guided by the simple principle: ‘If you are not having fun, you’re not doing it right!’

Abby wholly supports the idea of artistic freedom and enjoying painting at this simple, yet genuine level. She also notes, “It’s a strange thing being an artist, because there’s a tension between creating what’s true to you and wanting to satisfy other people.”

This is an issue that clearly revolved in her mind when she organised previous exhibitions of her work. She would include samples from different genres and styles, so no single category alone could define her. As an artist, she must be taken as a whole.

In recent years, Abby has moved into a new politically-tinged body of work, fuelled by two years of volunteering with the Human Rights Network and with NGOs dealing with social and environmental issues. Her social awareness has increased significantly as a result of active involvement coupled with a major in international relations at Victoria University.

These are indeed times of raging, often terrible, passions, and she is passionate about the world. She believes art has a role to play in social awareness because it can speak directly to people, and is free of the spin and apathy that sometimes surrounds political discourse.

Portrait of Humanity is a painting she did in 2006 where she demonstrates, through the metaphor of a contorted male nude, how humankind, despite having descended from the same biological roots, establishes hierarchies and fights against itself. “We are all one, yet we try to create a hierarchy. Who are the feet and who are the hands? The elbow is at war with the knee,” she comments.

Her thoughtful metaphorical language leads us to another painting similarly based on social concerns. It is one of her favourite works and is curiously and cheekily titled You have ten houses, We have no home. It is a darkly humorous story of a landlord and his disenfranchised tenants, painted with innocuously bright colours and stick figures while meditating on the frustration and sadness caused by inequality in society.

While Abby does not believe artists have a moral obligation to constantly indulge in socio-political commentary, she believes it’s necessary at times to speak out as a member of society through her art. Her work touches raw nerves at times, but always demonstrates sensitivity tempered with optimism and genuine concern.

As I take my leave, I glance up at a painting on the wall of a boat floating on a small, secluded lake sheltered by lush foliage. It is somewhere in Upper Hutt, Abby tells me. In the painting, I see beauty, peace, a brief quiet or meditative mental space so different from what I’d seen earlier.

Just as there are many sides to a person, so it is with the artist, except that Abby makes herself colourfully and wonderfully visible.