Previous | The Sublime Hannah Boswell, Russell Kleyn + Rachel Hope Allan
16.06.26—11.07.26
The Sublime : A Selling Exhibition at Webb's Wellington Gallery explores the tension between awe and unease.
Artists Hannah Boswell, Russell Kleyn, Rachel Hope Allan examine vast, unknowable realms, from cosmos to crystal caves and deep ocean dwellers.
Inspired by 18th-century philosopher Kant, the exhibition centres on what exceeds understanding. It invites viewers to embrace uncertainty and the limits of perception. Working across painting and immersive photography the exhibition spans diverse approaches to the sublime.
Webb's Wellington Gallery offers an exciting calendar of selling exhibitions, complementary to the touring auction previews. These exhibitions allow collectors to purchase the works on display immediately, making them a perfect opportunity for art enthusiasts to invest in unique pieces created by established and emerging artists. Thursdays through to Saturdays the gallery has extended hours, offering a great opportunity to linger, grab a glass of wine (or bottle to take home) from Normanby Fine Wines and enjoy the art.
Artist Portraits and Profiles
Hannah Boswell (previously Beehre) frames deep space nebulae as a metaphor for creative practice, emphasising transformation and potential.
The Westerlund 2 Revisited series emerges from the destruction and reconfiguration of an earlier installation into new forms. Fragments of the original velvet curtain are repurposed on cedar frames, generating fresh compositional and narrative possibilities. The work explores how deep space imagery echoes religious, mythical, and landscape traditions, including New Zealand Gothic. Through materials like silk velvet and Swarovski crystal, the artist expands painterly surfaces while referencing both religious iconography and 20th-century countercultural aesthetics.
Hannah began her studies at Elam School of Fine Art in 1995, receiving an MFA with distinction from the University of Canterbury in 2020. She has served as an Olivia Spencer Bower Trust Award recipient (2004), Scott Base Antarctica Artist in Residence (2012) and winner of the Parkin Drawing Prize (2016). Hannah has shown extensively in New Zealand and internationally.
Her work is held in private and public collections, including Te Papa Tongawera, Wellington, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Fletcher Trust Collection, Wallace Trust and the Children’s Palace, City of Wuhan, China. In 2022, Objectspace published her first book, ‘Flow: A Handbook for Students of Drawing.’
Artist portrait - Thomas Lord
Rachel Hope Allan
is an artist and educator based in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, where she is Principal Lecturer in Photography at the Dunedin School of Art. Moving between wet darkroom alchemy and contemporary digital and hybrid forms, she approaches photography as a site of ritual, romance, and quiet transgression. Her work engages the instability of images and the seduction of process, attentive to authenticity, memory, and the natural world.
Rachel holds a Master of Fine Arts with Distinction and exhibits nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include the Walker & Hall Art Awards (2025), and the National Contemporary Art Award (2023 and 2024). Her artist books are held in major public collections in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, including the National Gallery of Australia, Te Papa Tongarewa, the Angela Morton Collection, and Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo.
Russell Kleyn
is a South African-born multidisciplinary artist based in Te Whanganuia-Tara, Aotearoa New Zealand.
His work brings sculpture and photography into dialogue through processes of fabrication, documentation, and collaboration.
Recent projects extend photographic practice into sculptural form through an increasing engagement with industrial materials and fabrication processes.
Russell exhibits nationally and internationally with work held in public collections including The National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom and The National Library of New Zealand, Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
He holds a Master of Fine Arts from Toi Rauwhārangi, Massey University College of Creative Arts.
Artist portrait - Hana Kleyn
The Sublime—A Selling Exhibition
Purchase Online | webbs.co.nz
Preview Event
Saturday 20 June, 12.30pm—2.30pm
Artist Talk
Saturday 20 June, 1pm—2pm
Live Music
Saturday 20 June, 5.30pm—7pm
On View
16.06.26—12.07.26
Location
Webb's Wellington, 23 Marion Street, Te Aro, Wellington
Contact
Virginia Woods-Jack | Exhibitions Manager
[email protected] | +64 22 679 8664