Capt Matt Gauldie and Mayor Bob Parker at the Opening Night of the Army Art Exhibition at the Canterbury Museum (OH10-0668-038).
15 October 2010
The largest collection of the current Army Artist’s works to be shown to the public is now on display at Canterbury Museum. Within the Ranks: One Army, Many Faces showcases more than 70 paintings and sculptures by Captain Matt Gauldie, New Zealand’s official Army Artist since 2005.
“We have an Army artist to capture the operations, people, culture and significant events of the New Zealand Army,” says Chief of Army, Major General Rhys Jones. “Captain Gauldie’s artwork shows a side to the New Zealand Army life that many people would never otherwise see and allows New Zealanders to share the rich history of Kiwis in uniform.”
Since his appointment, Captain Gauldie has trained, lived, patrolled and worked with soldiers, helping to make his paintings so vivid and real. “While Captain Gauldie’s rank was given to him as an honorary rank, he decided he wanted to experience the reality of being a soldier,” says Major General Jones. “He has undertaken basic training at Waiouru Military Camp and deployed alongside his comrades to the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Afghanistan. Like the men and women depicted in his works, Captain Gauldie is also a soldier and an officer.”
Captain Gauldie’s artwork provides a memorial in our nation’s cultural heritage, and his ongoing mission is to capture and define the unique culture of the New Zealand Army, linking the contemporary New Zealand Army to its past and developing the tradition begun in 1918.
One of the latest paintings to be completed for the exhibition was of soldiers helping out during the recovery following the earthquake that hit Canterbury. The painting, which depicts Private Rachel Crins, 2nd Cant NMWC Battalion, helping out on the cordon, was presented to the Mayor of Christchurch, Mayor Bob Parker, on behalf of the Canterbury Region.
The exhibition runs for six months - until May 2011, offering an innovative and valuable collection of art, some never displayed before.