How to Paint a Nude

Sam Mahon, Christchurch artist, activist, conservationist, writer, and subversive known for his sculpture of Hon Nick Smith nude and squatting over a glass of water. Mahon is sure to cause controversy with this wonderfully written, yet dangerously close to reality fiction set within the real world of the Canterbury art scene in the year of the earthquake. The story centres around a Belarus refugee who fled his country to find freedom. Sam and Gregor meet weekly to discuss art’s purpose, and critique Lukashenka from a distance, but the narrative’s pervading enemy – the corporate world – lurks beneath the surface, wickedly described in the words of Sam’s friend, architect Peter Beaven. Finally, disillusioned by the local polite tyranny, Gregor leaves.