Gregory O’Brien

At the Washaway

29 April – 17 May 2025

’The Washaway’ is an open-air bar and cafe at Avatele on the coast of Nuie. When I last visited – in November 2022 – the wall-less premises were derelict, although the remnants of a few acoustic guitars and teeshirts still hanging from the ceiling suggested it had not been abandoned for good. The title ‘washaway’ stayed with me-not only on account of its oceanism, its tidal end and slow, but also because it hinted at various cleansing rituals – baptisms, anointing, blessings. By way of the Great Flood, it also set me thinking about how life itself is a ‘washaway’ – a torrent in which one is caught up, swept along…Not unrelatedly, the writers D. H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield started surfacing in the paintings, both of them contemplating mortality in the vicinity of the Days Bay Wharf and among the pilings at Shelley Bay.
Although I have made a few Katherine Mansfield related works over the years, it was Penny Jackson who prompted the present engagement. In 2018 she commissioned a work from me for ‘Katherine Mansfield; A Portrait’ at the the National Portrait Gallery – the painting was subsequently included in the 2024 National Library exhibition, ‘A child of the sun; Katherine Mansfield’s last year’ (curated by Fiona Oliver and Cherie Jacobson). I have long found Mansfield’s friendship with D. H. Lawrence perplexing, thought-provoking and strangely inspiring.
As well as images from the Avatele/Alofi side of Niue, the exhibition and related poems draw on two Wellington Harbour locations: Days Bay and Shelly Bay.
I painted Flight Path, Shelley Bay in October 2023 to mark the launching of my monograph, Don Binney – Flight Path, which had been over half a decade in the writing. During that period, I rode my bicycle around Miramar Peninsula a few times each week. I mourn the loss, in the past two years, of the warehouses, wharfs and pilings at Shelly Bay. I used to spend hours looking at the struts, beams and diagonals of the pilings; they seemed to be spelling out something in capital letters. Now, like so much else, the pilings – with their elusive utterances, messages, poems – have been lost in the washaway.’
Gregory O’Brien, 2025

Gregory O'Brien, At the Washaway 1 2025, acrylic on canvas, 600 x 800 mm $3300

Gregory O'Brien, Never weather-beaten sail 2024, acrylic on wooden box $7000

Gregory O'Brien, Contents of a pandanus hat 2022, acrylic on canvas, 1300 x 900 mm $8900

Gregory O'Brien, Days of Paperbark and Sailcloth 2022, acrylic on canvas, 1300 x 900 mm $8900

Gregory O'Brien, The schooner stops at Avatele 2022, acrylic on canvas, 1300 x 900 mm $8900

Gregory O'Brien, Akarana; Farewell ye rocks, ye seas and sands 2024, acrylic on canvas, 1000 x 720 mm $4200

Gregory O'Brien, The dark ship sails in the evening / Shelly Bay 2024, acrylic on canvas, 1000 x 720 mm $4200

Gregory O'Brien, Katherine Mansfield and D. H. Lawrence talk about mortality at Days Bay 2024, acrylic on canvas, 800 x 600 mm $3300

Gregory O'Brien, A flying fish in a southern dea 2024, acrylic on canvas, 800 x 600 mm $3300

Gregory O'Brien, Flight Path, Shelly Bay 2023, acrylic on canvas, 800 x 600 mm $3300

Gregory O'Brien, At the Washaway 2 2025, acrylic on board, 700 x 500 mm $2900

Gregory O'Brien, Boat day, Alofi 2024, acrylic on board, 700 x 500 mm $2900

Gregory O'Brien, The fair sea and the passenger 2024, acrylic on board, 700 x 500 mm $2900

Gregory O'Brien, Passenger (for Katherine Mansfield) 2024, acrylic on board, 900 x 600 mm $3900

Gregory O'Brien, Mansfield 2024, acrylic on board, 700 x 500 mm $2900

Gregory O'Brien, Lawrence at Shelly Bay 2024, acrylic on board, 350 x 400 mm $1750

Gregory O'Brien, A tale of Kermadec and Astrolable 2024, acrylic on board, 700 x 500 mm $2900

Gregory O'Brien, The Expatriate / Portrait of Katherine Mansfield 2024, etching with aquatint, 400 x 300 mm sheet, $600 / $830 framed

Gregory O’Brien & John Pule: Collaborative etchings 

Gregory O'Brien, Vakatoga Misi (Ship of Dreams) 2024, etching with aquatint, 400 x 300 mm sheet, $800 / $1050 framed

Gregory O'Brien, The wreck of the Manawanui 2024, etching with aquatint, 250 x 200 mm sheet, $650 / $850 framed

Gregory O'Brien, The last voyage of the Manawanui 2024, etching with aquatint, 234 x 312 mm sheet, $700 / $900 framed

Gregory O'Brien, Kua make au ke Lele ('I am above to fly') 2025, etching with aquatint, 205 x 260 mm sheet, $650 / $850 framed