Maria Tanner Spends 5 Minutes with .. Sylvia Marsters
Stylized by her vivid use of bold and vibrant color and ability to proficiently recreate the life like scenes she draws her very inspiration from, the Auckland based Cook Islands painter Sylvia Marsters is relatively relaxed as she paces the BCA gallery upon the opening of her ‘Island Fever’ exhibition.
Although never viewed as anything more than a creative outlet Marsters casual approach to painting was initiated in the mid 90’s with the unfortunate passing of her “best friend and father” where she found her only correlation to the Cook Islands disconnected, “for me the two are very closely intertwined. I wanted to capture as much of the Rarotongan culture as I could. Pulling back from the frame and looking at the complexity of things, I really wanted to challenge myself and this was my opportunity,” says artist du jour Marsters.
Lining the walls of the stark white BCA gallery Marsters subdued larger than life personality is truly reiterated through her works, canvases of lush green straddled by shocking pinks and burnt orange fill the space spilling into the atmospheric realm of the deception and reality. The ’Island Fever’ tipani and hibiscus showcase, that opened on Tuesday evening, is an exhibition fuelled by Marsters passion for this place, “When you paint something you translate it through your world,” explains Marsters of her artistic styling’s, “The way that I compose the paintings and its colour its different from what you would see in the photograph. When I first came here the light just made the colours pop! I really wanted to punch up the colour, give it strength. To paint in dull colour it’s not me, I want it brighter and brighter,” Marsters says as we scan the walls.
Commissioned by Bergmann Sylvia, who works predominantly with oil paint, and uses a series of layering, further giving her the ability to capture the full vibrance and depth of colour, has been working on the ‘Island Fever’ exhibition for the past nine months and lets out a sigh of relief when asked how she feels about the completion of her works, “It’s surprising,” she says relaxing a little more, “Sometimes I’ll hear stories about how different people connect to it that I didn’t even realize.” Before her sentence is out a women enters the gallery to nosey at Marsters works and almost instinctively begins sharing her interpretation of kuru pa’pa, “The complexity that comes with capturing nature is truly challenging” she says trailing off.

Herald Issue 608 21 March
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