Filipino-Kiwi artist Cabnov brings her first New Zealand solo show, Mental Landscapes, to Queenstown

Self-taught Filipino-Kiwi artist Cabnov, the pseudonym of Danikah Novio, has brought Mental Landscapes, her first solo exhibition in New Zealand, to The Arts Hole gallery in Queenstown, where it is scheduled to run until 22 November.

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Filipino-Kiwi artist Cabnov has brought her work to Queenstown for Mental Landscapes, her first solo exhibition in New Zealand, the Otago Daily Times reported. The show at The Arts Hole gallery in Country Lane was scheduled to open to the public on Sunday 25 October and to run until 22 November.

Cabnov is the art pseudonym of Danikah Novio, a self-taught artist who divides her time between the Philippines and New Zealand. The gallery says the exhibition follows her recent shows across Asia and the United States, and that she works across painting, mural and sculpture.

Gallery co-owner Tom Roberts told the Otago Daily Times that she was studying wine with the idea of becoming a sommelier, and making music, when her partner encouraged her to try translating her music into visual art. Some of her drawings were noticed by a Kiwi artist, who invited her to a mural festival, and she went on to become a full-time artist. Roberts and his partner Chani Caulfield contacted her after learning about her backstory.

The paintings explore identity, ambition, balance and finding a place in the world, giving physical form to an inner world of thoughts, emotions and memories through landscapes, architecture and biomorphic figures. Drawing on her childhood love of Where's Waldo books, Cabnov hides letters, symbols and clues throughout the work.