Lounge Muse

Lounge Muse showcases quilts from the decade-long collaboration of painter, Mark Braunias, and quiltmaker, Brenda Ronowicz.

The origin of these artifacts dates to an ‘epiphanous’ moment in 2011. During a break in Rugby World Cup coverage, Braunias stepped out of his studio to view the annual local art exhibition in Kawhia, the Waikato coastal town where he has been based for many years. A quilt by Ronowicz, featuring a design of elephants holding onto balloons, captivated his imagination. Since this time the pair have produced eight quilts together, revelling in opportunities to render the painter’s distinctive biomorphic visual vocabulary in a multitude of differently lustred, coloured and constructed materials. Velvets, satins, slubby silks, laces, corduroys and many types of beading and quilting have been employed in the padded universe that has ensued.

The meeting of Ronowicz’s extensive skill honed within the field of textiles and Braunias’ decades of immersion within the aesthetic playground of painting has unleashed a taste-challenging seductive art. This exhibition juxtaposes the five most recent Braunias and Ronowicz quilts with other objects of rare frisson: Arts & Crafts and Memphis chairs; hand hooked rag rugs by Vita Cochran and paint engulfed furniture by Cat Fooks.

Lounge Muse was brought together with the generous assistance of McLeavey Gallery, 147 Cuba St, Wellington; Art & Industry Antiques, 473 Manukau Rd, Auckland; & Babelogue, 312 Karangahape Rd, Auckland