Palmerston North's conservative boundaries are being tested by a gay artist in a new exhibition at the Square Edge community gallery. David Wrigley's war-comic style paintings are taking male bonding between soldiers to a whole new level with depictions of spats, relationship break-ups and lustful thoughts, according to a feature in the Manawatu Evening Standard. One example shows a grizzled senior soldier grabbing another soldier by the front of his khaki battledress in a barracks-room, growling, “Keep your friggin hands off my boyfriend!” "Yeah, I'm having a go," says Wrigley. "But I'm doing it with a bit of humour. I want to get noticed and get a bit of a profile with this exhibition." Square Edge manager Trudy Fowler says its community gallery is open to any exhibiton so long as it meets certain standards. Lots of families and children come through the area, but she says that although a reaction is expected, she doesn't expect offence to be taken from the exhibition of non-explicit paintings. Palmerston North is a city bracketed by the country's largest Army and Air Force bases. When asked how her soldier boyfriend might react to the exhibition, Fowler could only answer “Hmmm”. Wrigley says he plans to do something with rugby next.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Tuesday, 11th November 2003 - 12:00pm