Early Morning Rugby Hagley Park 2009, (sold)

This acrylic painting, "Early Morning Rugby Hagley Park 2009" (2009) by Leon Aarts (b. 1961, Christchurch, New Zealand), is a vibrant, kinetic dawn—a lone tree arching over a frost-kissed field where tiny rugby players flicker like sparks in a Fauvist sunrise, the sky exploding in cobalt, crimson, and gold streaks as if the Canterbury morning itself is tackling the day. Painted just a year before the 2010 earthquake series, this mid-scale work (approx. 30×24 inches) captures Aarts at the cusp of his mature expressionist voice—pre-seismic, pre-mythic, yet already pulsing with the Whatdoesitmean undercurrent: What small rituals hold us steady before the ground gives way? Below is a structured critique.

Final Verdict: ★★★★½ (4.5/5)

A radiant, prelapsarian gem—"Early Morning Rugby Hagley Park 2009" is Leon Aarts’ hymn to dawn, his Sunday morning in the park, his last innocent kick before the quake. Less mythic than Orpheus, less urgent than Fix It, but purer in its joy—a painting that smells like frost and possibility. For Christchurch locals, it’s sacred ground; for all, it’s the universal thrill of play at first light.