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Taranaki Graph Studies, Pencil and gouache on four sheets of paper 44 x 44 Signed & dated 1980

Michael Smither's 1981 Taranaki Graph is a visually emphatic work which, in its manifestation of an abstracted geometric dialogue, emits an almost hypnotic quality, one through which the viewer is immersed in a constant state of visual meditation and decryption.

Smither's relationship with the local landscape is key to the essence of this work. As a Taranaki native, the presence of the mountain is tantamount, and at this stage in his career represented an important source of artistic, visual and spiritual inspiration. Here, Smither has interpreted the mountain by way of a contemporaneously impressionistic approach, the depiction of subject matter having been distorted through the lens of its environs.

This is a striking work: whilst geometric forms and representations of the mountain are neatly stacked across the left hand side of the painting; they exist in a completely inverted and apparently chaotic arrangement across the right - this latter aspect, in its disorder, brilliantly complements the other side of the work. Though initially striking in their clarity as monochromatic colour blocks, closer examination reveals a delicate tonal gradation across the aquamarine forms of the painting's right hand side.

Taranaki Graph is a clever exploration of the transitory nature of colour and form: at a time when Smither was delving into the relationship between music and art, an understanding of the harmonious tension between colour and music was at the forefront of his work. This painting's titular reference to a graph speaks to a process of rationalisation which Smither was undertaking at this point: a process which culminated in the production of a Harmonic Chart a couple of years later. With regards to the present work, therefore, what we find ourselves in the midst of, is the workings of Smither's own mind.