Painter Geoffrey Notman's recent series New Zealand Idle takes familiar landscape scenes from a family summer car trip and slightly alters the lens we view them through.

From Friday 13 November 2009 he will show the works at Suite in Newtown, Wellington.

Notman, a photorealist painter, describes himself as having 'a fierce sensory awareness of topographic ambience', and his scenes of coastal houses, caravans, boats and holiday scenes are portrayed starkly and precisely, dominated by heat and light.

The stillness of the photorealist painting is what finally convinces us of its unreality. Presented with a static image, we are caught by it, compelled to study its sordid detail. If we imagine the scene presented we can hear the sounds it makes: cicadas, stirring macrocapra, the water which is often close, the roar of passing cars.

These works are loaded with narrative and nostalgia of past eras, an ode to a culture unique to New Zealanders.

Geoffrey Notman New Zealand Idle Friday 13 November - Saturday 28 November Suite 69 Owen Street, Newtown, Wellington