Venice bound

Christchurch sculptor Francis Upritchard and Auckland painter and teacher Judy Millar will represent New Zealand in a six-month exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Upritchard is known for her hand-made figures inspired by the works of medieval painters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel, while Millar makes large-scale, abstract paintings. In 2006, London-based Upritchard won the Walters Prize for her installation of sculpture entitled ‘Doomed Doomed Doomed’. Creative NZ arts council chairman Alastair Carruthers has described Judy Millar as “one of New Zealand’s most experienced abstractionists” and her project for Venice as “strong, bold and exciting”. This is the fourth Biennale New Zealand has exhibited at.