Candi Dentice creates visually engaging paintings with powerful environmental messages. Her works combine symbols and objects in unconventional ways within refined, highly detailed tableaux. Compositions are playful, whimsical and strongly narrative with emblematic references to contemporary society.
Developing a rich visual language with sophisticated techniques perfected over a lifetime of painting, Dentice brings the unique and primeval qualities of the New Zealand landscape to our attention. Her exquisite renderings remind us of the fragile nature of the environment, incorporating minute details derived from a continual and keen observation of the landscape. Works are deeply political with interwoven messages showing precisely what we stand to lose should we ignore the warnings.
Dentice’s practice directly confronts commoditisation in our society and the impact that this issue has on the environment. In pivotal works Roundabout and Meltdown, the frivolous carousel and the dripping ice-cream cone evoke the pointless and excessive nature of unthinking consumerism. Dentice extends the metaphor by including ethereal impressions of landscapes, frieze-like, around the top of the carousal and on the ice-cream cone. The small scale of these vistas enhances a sense that these are fragile ecosystems, under threat from the devastating impact of vehicle emissions on the earth's atmosphere.
From a technical standpoint, Dentice’s works have a strong foundation in drawing. She creates fine, intricate images, with an emphasis on detail and subtle shifts of colour. Often, the innumerable glazes she applies results in a soft luminosity that enhances the surreal beauty of the landscape. This display of technical confidence and skill allows Dentice to fully develop themes concerning the fragility of the earth’s ecosystems as they battle against an imperfect modern world.
With significant time invested in the making of every painting, Dentice approaches her work with deep consideration and thought. Careful choices are made regarding composition, palette, symbolism and even titling, all of which contribute to the powerful allegorical statement in each work.
Dentice selects symbols for their anachronistic qualities, juxtaposing them with contemporary objects to create a playful dialogue relating to social change. Roundabout depicts a carousel laden with contemporary cars (including a pointedly selected 'smart' car); hard-edged wooden toy trees replace real ones knocked down in Playground. The scenes evoke both nostalgic remembrances and present realities; at once humorous and poignant.
Paradoxical ‘time warps’ are present in all works depicting times when we innocently went about our unchecked consumption - when words such as global warming, fossil fuel emissions and ozone layer were not part of our vocabulary. However, Dentice’s works also show this state as quaint, outmoded and untenable, suggesting that we ignore these fundamental issues at great personal and global risk. In a light-hearted way the artist gently prods us to reject delusions of unchecked growth and unlimited consumption.
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