Euphoric - Group show by Lizzie Pannell, Em Wafer, Mel Waite

Nowadays, it means a state of intense excitement and happiness, but originally euphoria comes from the Greek meaning ‘to bear health’. Those feelings of intense wellbeing and excitement can be brought out by means natural and unnatural. Induced by religion, induced by music, induced by exercise, induced by substance. This collaboration of fine art and photography brings together three artists known for their distinctively enchanted pieces that explore nature, imagination, and the beauty of everyday lifeforms and moments. This exhibition asks you to ask yourself where you find your euphoria.  If you still can.
 
Lizzie Pannell is a British born artist best known for her large floral paintings. Inspired by the uniqueness of every petal, Lizzie plays in the half-ground between impressionist and still life styles. Her works celebrate the coming together of precise elements at a precise time to form something perfectly unique. Petal by petal.
The style of these pieces fuse still life study and abstract elegance. Just as every flower is unique, so are these works.
Her recent ‘dripping’ style conjures secondary sentiment ‘below the bouquet’. Flowers are given and shared as celebration, commemoration, and expression of love. And often that something deeper lies beneath. Lizzie names the works ambiguously to allow the owner and viewer to interpret the pieces in a way that speaks to them.
 
Em Wafer is a full-time New Zealand artist known for her surreal microcosmic worlds. She exhibits locally and internationally, and has collectors worldwide.
Unique enough to strike a chord with our own stories and universal enough to leave space for individual reflections, Em's work addresses the wordless subconscious. A multitude of perspectives exist, and a glimpse of those unseen places deeply felt but not always consciously understood or articulated connects us all. The art, external circumstance, and the less tangible inner world all inform each other, the process itself sometimes shifting the concept entirely!
Each painting is a life snippet inspired by the beautiful, the paradoxical and the unexpected. Em is also frequently inspired by moments with her son James, who is on the autism spectrum and brings wonderfully unique perspective shifts through a neurodivergent lens.
 
Mel Waite is a photographic focused artist and award winning professional photographer with a sincere love of nature and the simple joys in life. With an eye for detail, she creates intricate works from small fallen, washed up and overlooked treasures left by mother nature.
The pieces in Euphoric are part of an ongoing series based around locations within Aotearoa of close affinity or connection with the artist. Each piece begins with photographing selected items individually on-site. Items are left at the location with nothing removed in the process of creating her artwork. Once back at her studio, Mel Builds the Kaleidoscopes digitally with each limited edition print from her series and hand embellished in 24k gold-leaf after printing.