Railway Street Studios in Newmarket will soon be presenting a collection of works, titled Pneuma from Auckland artist Mo Stewart. Her works in black and white will take the viewer into a mesmerizing journey into the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind.
Growing up in South Africa, Mo’s own journey started young. Her mother, a painter herself, encouraged her to explore her art, which Mo continued to do. This took her on her own psychological journey – her works always an exploration of what lies beneath the surface. In abstract she is able to fully realize this fascination with the psychological landscape and it is here that she is able to confront the viewer with a portrait of their own psyche.
This is not to imply that her work is somehow a Rorschach blot of clinical divination. Instead, there is a playfulness that mingles with the seriousness of the deeper mind. One is exposed to the light and dark that lurks beneath the surface of one’s own mind. In this her works allow you to delve deeper, at once fearsome and exhilarating.
She is currently studying at the Brown School of Art, Auckland, managing to balance the creation of these intriguing works with the demands of a mother, the “pretty cool dude” that supports her as her husband, and Tank, her dachshund companion. Maybe it is this grounding in the world outside that allows her to explore the phantoms that lurk inside and yet maintain a sense of whimsy throughout.
Her own journey has brought her to the Railway Street Studios where her exhibition will open on 31 January 2019. View it before it closes on 19 February.