Brendan O’Brien
Conversation with a mountain
10 June – 5 July 2025
One of the high points of my year in 2024 was a roadtrip to Taranaki. With fellow travellers, Sydney-based artist Noel McKenna and my brother Greg, we took a meandering route from Wellington, spending time catching up with folk in Ōpunake, before moving onwards, north around Taranaki Maunga to New Plymouth. The journey to Taranaki brought back memories from 2001 when Noel, Greg and I had worked together to produce two apostrophes, a small handmade publication, an illustrated poem for Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi of Parihaka. The Taranaki visit also served as a solemn reminder of the history and spiritual legacy of Parihaka, plus, alongside that, a reminder of the deeply affecting exhibition, ‘Parihaka: the art of passive resistance’, initiated by the City Gallery Wellington in 2000. Our journey supplied me with a direction and an outline for the images that are gathered here as Conversation with a mountain.
Twenty five years ago, at the time the work was underway on two apostrophes, I was resident in the Rita Angus cottage, Thorndon; over my time there I embarked on a series of hand-printed book collaborations and continued developing collage work and gathering materials for future projects – numerous fragments collected then have made their way into this current group of artworks. There is a sense of wistful nostalgia about that time and place – I imagine the younger self busy in order to somehow direct the older self; it is pleasing to see both remain on the one path, and pleasing also that the accompanying soundtrack remains unchanged: plough and tuba, friends and neighbours. I thank the Thorndon Trust who generously administered the Rita Angus cottage and, at a pivotal time in my career, provided the opportunity to focus on both book arts and collage practice. I am also thankful to Greg and Noel – not just terrific collaborators but wise and good humoured companions for any journey.
The early recordings, Otahi Stream, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 217 x 186 mm $1950
Tonight we sing, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 237 x 193 mm $1950
The Prophet's song. Music for plough and tuba, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 165 x 272 mm $1950
Chairs for the prophets, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 162 x 277 mm $1950
Cloud joins the wooden choir, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 201 x 164 mm $1950
Conversation with an eel pot, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 158 x 204 mm
Arrival of the plough, Taranaki, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 157 x 195 mm $1950
Friends and neighbours, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 224 x 147 mm $1950
Prophet in the quiet air, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 208 x 158 mm $1950
Talking a river through a field, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 182 x 234 mm $1950
Songs for the greeting of guests, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 187 x 267 mm $1950
Music from the string fields, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 245 x 195 mm $1950
Mountain greets the prophet, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 238 x 176 mm $1950
Bird contemplates the mountain, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 192 x 231 mm $1950
Mountain at first light, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 238 x 191 mm $1950
The Happenings (with thanks to the Prophetic Herbie Nichols), 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 181 x 236 mm $1950
Redundant figure steps from a cloud, 2025, unique collage incorporating antique engravings, pencil and ink, 152 x 225 mm $1950