Erica van Zon
Humour, pastiche and visual trickery are important parts of Erica van Zon’s practice. Her works often include optic puns or funny mistakes as one medium is translated to another. She enjoys the slippage between reality and the imperfect outcome of the handmade.
Erica van Zon is a contemporary artist. Born in 1979, she lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington.
Erica draws inspiration for her practice from her personal fascinations, memories, and encounters with the local and wider world. Moving through different time zones and aesthetic eras, Erica creates a collective understanding which is revealed, relived or questioned in the viewing of her work.
Swimming pools, avocados and eggs, colour charts or views from aeroplane windows are recreated and repurposed using craft-based materials. These include embroidery, ceramics, beading, and tapestry, alongside photographs and steel. It is in the remaking that new narratives and relationships are formed. In everything Erica makes, the handmade is apparent, even if it's not her hand in the making. She is influenced by materials and process, collecting new ideas and combinations from all aspects of her life.
Humour, pastiche and visual trickery are important parts of Erica’s practice. Her works often include optic puns, or funny mistakes as one medium is translated to another. She enjoys the slippage between reality and the imperfect outcome of the handmade.
Her mixed media exhibitions are joyful and infectious. They also border on the obsessive, taking weeks and months to create each work.
Erica van Zon
Peppermint Twist, 2018
Jhana Millers Gallery
Installation image
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Erica van Zon, Why am I always here?
2 - 25 Oct 2025Opens 5–7pm, Thursday 2 October. As a mother to a young child, the supermarket is never a straightforward errand. One minute you’re handing over suspicious slices of luncheon meat, the...Read more -
Plus 1
15 May - 7 Jun 2025Jhana Millers presents Plus 1, a group exhibition where a selection of gallery artists each invite a creative companion to exhibit alongside them.Read more -
Cut Flowers, Jaime Jenkins, Caroline McQuarrie, Ann Shelton, Ruby Wilkinson and Erica van Zon
20 Feb - 15 Mar 2025Jhana Millers is pleased to present Cut Flowers, a group exhibition featuring work by Jaime Jenkins, Caroline McQuarrie, Ann Shelton, Ruby Wilkinson and Erica van ZonRead more -
Summer Selection – Portraits
29 Jan - 15 Feb 2025Read more -
Erica van Zon, Frozen Moment
1 - 24 Aug 2024Jhana Millers presents Frozen Moment, a new exhibition by Erica van ZonRead more -
Editions
9 May - 1 Jun 2024Jhana Millers is pleased to present their first print exhibition featuring a group of represented artists.Read more -
FIVE
7 - 29 Jul 2023Jhana Millers is pleased to present a group exhibition of work by the gallery's represented artists to celebrate the gallery's 5th anniversaryRead more -
Erica van Zon, New Work
16 Feb - 11 Mar 2023Jhana Millers is pleased to present a series of new works by Erica van Zon in the gallery foyer.Read more -
Erica van Zon, Deep Deep Icy Blue
17 Feb - 20 Mar 2022Erica van Zon, Deep Deep Icy Blue. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more -
Group Exhibition, THE BIG THREE
9 - 31 Jul 2021Group Exhibition, THE BIG THREE. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more -
Erica van Zon, Kāryn Taylor, Moniek Schrijer, New Work
6 - 21 Dec 2019New work by three of our gallery artists, Erica van Zon, Kāryn Taylor and Moniek Schrijer.Read more -
Group Exhibition, ONE
15 - 27 Jul 2019Group exhibition, ONE. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more
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Erica van Zon, Peppermint Twist
30 Nov - 22 Dec 2018Erica van Zon, Peppermint Twist. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more -
The Gates, Inaugural Exhibition
7 Jul - 4 Aug 2018Group Exhibition, The Gates. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more
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Seed of Memory: The Beaded Works of Erica van Zon
Jane Groufsky, Surface Design Journal, June 1, 2022 -
Erica van Zon, Deep Deep Icy Blue: Ahoy
Megan Dunn, Exhibition essay, February 17, 2022 -
Speculative Stitching: Aotearoa Artists and Embroidery
Thomasin Sleigh, The Pantograph Punch, September 9, 2020 -
Making Waves
Lucinda Bennett, Art Collector, Auckland Art Fair special edition, May 1, 2019 -
Uncanny Valley: Erica van Zon on slippage, scratchy wool and New Zealand's first dealer gallerist
Victoria Wynne-Jones, The Pantograph Punch, November 18, 2018 -
Verdant Geometry
Erica van Zon, SCAPE Public Art, October 1, 2018 -
Where do you go?
Martyn Pepperell, Wellingtonnz.com, July 3, 2018 -
In the Studio with New Zealand artist Erica van Zon
Gracelee Lawrence, Re/sculpt, International Sculpture Center, February 21, 2018 -
Coffee and Croissants with Erica van Zon
Object Space, February 18, 2018 -
Artist reveals 'workings of her brain'
NZ Herald, Whanganui Chronicle, October 3, 2017 -
Red Shed tribute unveiled at the Dowse
Eleanor Werman, Stuff, September 18, 2017 -
Opal Moon, Local Lime: Reviewed
Thomasin Sleigh, August 26, 2017 -
Opal Moon, Local Lime
Jessica Kidd, Sarjeant Gallery Whanganui, August 26, 2017 -
Valuing the Material
Mark Amery, The Big Idea (14), March 14, 2017 -
Kiwi Visitors to the East
John Hurrell, EyeContact, December 16, 2015 -
Dogwood Days
Loulou Callister, Critic Magazine, March 15, 2015 -
Interpreting the world
Charmian Smith, Otago Daily Times, November 27, 2014 -
Serious Play
Sammy Rose-Scapens, Home Style, January 1, 2014 -
The Novel as Springboard
Claire Mabey, EyeContact, December 12, 2013 -
The light on the dock: Exhibition catalogue
City Gallery Wellington, November 16, 2013 -
The Light on the Dock: Art Review
Guy Somerset, The Listener, November 7, 2013 -
Beyond Illustration?
John Hurrell, EyeContact, June 3, 2012 -
Fun, fakery and deceit
Art News New Zealand, Issue 74, January 1, 2012 -
Love will tear us apart
Mark Amery, Dominion Post, June 6, 2011
