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Paul Maseyk | Jugs in New Zealand Painting

 

For more than seven years, New Plymouth artist Paul Maseyk has been exploring the humble jug and its place within the history of painting in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jugs in New Zealand Painting began with Maseyk looking closely at still life paintings, searching collections, books, magazines, auction catalogues and online archives for the vessels depicted within them. He then recreated these jugs in clay, translating painted objects back into three dimensional form.

The resulting works sit somewhere between sculpture, pottery and art history. Familiar vessels become the subject of their own stories, creating a playful conversation between the original paintings and their ceramic counterparts. Each ceramic work invites us to look again at the paintings from which it came, and to consider the role these often overlooked objects play within them.

The project was first presented at The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt from May to October 2024, before travelling to Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui from March to June 2025.

In 2026, the exhibition continued in two distinct iterations, presented concurrently in Auckland and Waikato. Both exhibitions included works from the earlier presentations at The Dowse and Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, alongside new works created by Maseyk specifically for each location.

At The Arts House Trust in Auckland, Maseyk created new jugs inspired by paintings within the Trust’s collection, adding another layer to the ongoing exploration of the jug in New Zealand painting. In Waikato, new works were created in response to paintings and artists with strong connections to the region, bringing a distinctly local perspective to the wider project.

Together, these iterations demonstrate the evolving nature of Jugs in New Zealand Painting, with the exhibition continuing to grow and shift in response to the collections, artists and histories encountered along the way.

Over the past few years, Kingsroy visitors have encountered this exhibition in its various presentations around the country, often returning to the gallery with enthusiastic responses to the work. It feels fitting, then, to bring this remarkable body of work to Ngāmotu New Plymouth, giving it a local presentation in the city where Maseyk lives and works.

We are pleased to present the collection at Kingsroy Gallery, with the works now available for acquisition.