Thoughts That Make Us Think – Hugo Van Dorsser and Catarina Correia Arnhold

Twentysix is pleased to present the last show of the year by Ōtautahi based artist couple Hugo Van Dorsser and Catarina Correia Arnhold. With a sense of play and punchy, evocative colour at the centre - ‘Thoughts That Make Us Think’ is a meeting of material worlds. Gallery walls are met with a bold expression of life and an unapologetic exploration into how the artists’ materials can perform on behalf of their intuition and imagination. At times looking back in nostalgia, while others look inward toward the spirit and self.

Van Dorsser works, predominately in oil paint, in thick strokes. Drawn with a confident hand in building block shapes, he references childhood with toy cars and little houses, as well as employing the symbol of the butterfly to explore hope and change - all collaged together with a blurry face hidden at the side. They are dreamlike, the surreal spelt out with each canvas, Van Dorsser piecing together - and thus inviting his viewers - into an emotional landscape of shared nostalgia.

Correia Arnhold’s gritty clay shapes are a visualisation of emotion - created quickly, roughly - following her at the height of feeling. Spanning both three dimensional and wall bound, each piece is an exploration of the artist’s central symbols of the subconscious, religion and memory. Rough clay is layered in glossy, bright pastel glazes, set against deep, matte finishes - working in juxtaposition to expose conflicting narratives. Her use of the lone rider, priests, a crowd and holy figures throughout, asks of reality versus imagination, sentimentality versus fantasy, day to day versus the preternatural. An ongoing balance between a welcomed freedom of material and a language of myth, memory, and personal narrative.

The two artists sidestep together into a landscape of play. Testing boundary lines between material and reality, between fantasy and a blurred memory - all lit in vivid colour. ‘Thoughts That Make Us Think’ asks us to pace along after them, indulged in their two worlds.

Join us for the opening celebration on Friday, 28 November at 6pm – both artists will be present.

The exhibition runs from 29 November – 20 December 2025 at Twentysix Gallery.

Opening Hours:
Thursday 12pm - 6pm
Friday 12pm - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Or by appointment

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