​Chloe Blades exhibition to open at He Waka Tuia

Blades said for her, her tablescapes represented a place of both solitude and happiness, and parties and joy.

“For me, it’s the central part of my house as the stairs lead up to it. It’s where I paint from, feed my kids at, and sometimes sit with my husband to talk over dinner instead of watching TV. Christmas dinners happen there or at the table outdoors decorated with a beautiful table cloth, mismatched op-shop finds, and cutlery and candles. In my imagination, it’s a solitary table on the sand of a Greek beach by a taverna where I’m alone drinking a coffee or a wine with my book and sardines.”

Her influences included artists such as Tracey Emin, Frida Kahlo and New Zealand painter Jacqueline Fahey, whose depictions of domestic life she described as “the absolute epitome of artistic perfection.”

“Men have taken up a lot of space in the arts over the centuries, like yes great work on the Vatican – but what could a woman have achieved there if given the brush? The art of men has been recognised undeniably more. Their opportunities were far greater, as women were kept out of colleges and universities, and the male gaze and genius has always been respected more,” she said.

“But the importance of women in art and their work is being taken more seriously. And I think it’s because women are creating art that shows a different perspective and experience to the one that’s been written about in history, or is expected of them.”

Describing her work as “colourful, abstract, optimistic and imaginative”, Blades’ honest portrayals of the juxtaposition between joy and chaos connected with real women.

“It makes me want to cry, the fact that my work would be described as something so meaningful. Modern womanhood is fascinating. Women have so much in their power now compared to ‘back in the day’, which I think is what’s terrifying the manosphere, but the opportunities, choices, advice, and responsibility is enormous and so there’s more pressure and expectation,” she said.

The exhibition at He Waka Tuia would extend through to a sold-out paint-and-sip style workshop, designed to encourage others to engage with creativity in a relaxed and accessible way.

For Blades, that was about breaking down the idea that art was reserved solely for those with formal training, or natural talent. She hoped the workshop would inspire others to find joy within a creative outlet, as painting had become for her, she said.

“I am just squeezing as much excitement out of this short life as I can. I couldn’t do it if my husband didn’t love being a dad more than life itself. But let me be honest with you – I am drowning. I do truly believe though that – as I wrote in one of the paintings in the show from a book called The Correspondent – ‘I didn’t know it was happiness at the time because it felt like busyness and exhaustion and financial stress and self doubt’. I often think of that and how privileged I am to have all of this busyness in my life.”

I put the flowers there so it looked like I had my life together will open to the public at He Waka Tuia at 6pm tonight. It would run until 28 June.