Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
Location Mr Brightside, Christchurch
Song pairing: This Charming Man — The Smiths

Mr Brightside in Christchurch, set against a deep red ground and lit with flashes of metallic gold.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, This Charming Man captures the point where the day begins to feel more polished, more social and perhaps a little less restrained. The building stands confidently within the composition, its repeated windows and strong architectural lines softened by Ricki’s loose, expressive surface.

Paired with This Charming Man by The Smiths, the work brings together place, music and the mood of the night as it gathers momentum. Metallic and fluorescent details catch the light, giving the familiar venue a sense of movement and energy.

Bold, charismatic and slightly offbeat—a Christchurch landmark remembered with its own soundtrack.

Acrylic, metallic and fluorescent paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
Ōtoromiro Hotel, Governor’s Bay, Lyttelton Harbour
Song pairing: Perfect Day — Lou Reed

The Ōtoromiro Hotel at Governor’s Bay, caught in soft greens, silvery blues and shifting metallic light.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, Perfect Day offers a quieter moment within the unfolding Saturday. The hotel appears only in part—a sign, the edge of the building and glimpses of the surrounding landscape—capturing the way a place is often remembered through fragments rather than as a complete picture.

Paired with Perfect Day by Lou Reed, the work holds both warmth and a subtle sense of melancholy. Metallic details move with the light, while the loose, layered surface gives the scene the feeling of a memory being revisited.

Quietly nostalgic and slightly dreamlike—a place, a song and a moment you wish could last a little longer.

Acrylic, metallic paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
Valley Inn, Heathcote Valley, Christchurch
Song pairing: Heart of Gold — Neil Young

The Valley Inn in Heathcote, surrounded by green and held beneath a luminous gold-toned sky.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, Of Gold captures a quieter pause within the unfolding Saturday. The building sits firmly at the centre of the landscape, while hills, trees and dense planting connect the familiar venue back to its place in the valley.

Paired with Heart of Gold by Neil Young, the work carries a warmer, more reflective mood. Fluorescent green gives the scene its vivid energy, while metallic details bring changing light to the surface and shift the painting as it is viewed from different angles.

Familiar, nostalgic and quietly glowing—a local landmark remembered through colour, music and the feeling of being there.

Artist: Ricki Hudson
Acrylic, metallic and fluorescent paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
Pierside, New Brighton, Christchurch
Song pairing: Indigo — Flamingo Pier

Pierside in New Brighton, held beneath a deep indigo sky as the afternoon begins to slip into night.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, Indigo captures the moment when the pace of the day starts to shift. The familiar façade is surrounded by palms and thick, expressive planting, while flashes of fluorescent green, orange and metallic colour move across the darker ground.

Paired with Indigo by Flamingo Pier, the work carries a laid-back rhythm with something more energetic beginning to build underneath. The surface feels loose and immediate, as if the venue is being recalled through fragments of colour, music and a night that is becoming less predictable.

Moody, electric and full of movement—a familiar Christchurch place caught somewhere between memory and the next stop.

Artist: Ricki Hudson

Acrylic, metallic and fluorescent paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
Beach Bar, Sumner, Christchurch
Song pairing: Blister in the Sun — Violent Femmes

The Beach Bar in Sumner, where the afternoon is hot, bright and turned up to full volume.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, In the Sun captures the sun-soaked stage of a summer Saturday moving through Christchurch’s familiar venues. The intense orange ground floods the scene with heat, while the bar, palms and beach umbrellas hold the easy rhythm of an afternoon beside the coast.

Paired with Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes, the work feels energetic, playful and slightly restless. Metallic and fluorescent details flicker across the surface, catching the light and giving the familiar Sumner setting the heightened quality of a memory already becoming a story.

A bright rush of summer, music and place—with the rest of the night still waiting.

Acrylic, metallic and fluorescent paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
Paddy McNaughton’s, Christchurch
Song pairing: Zombie — The Cranberries

Paddy McNaughton’s, standing against an unapologetically pink Christchurch sky.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, Cranberry captures one of the city’s familiar drinking spots through colour, memory and music. The building is stripped back to its most recognisable features, while the intense pink surrounding it shifts the scene away from a straightforward record of place and into something more personal.

Paired with Zombie by The Cranberries, the work plays with the connection between the venue, its soundtrack and its title. Metallic details catch the light across the façade, while the loose, expressive surface gives the building the slightly blurred quality of a place remembered from a day that is beginning to gather momentum.

Bright, nostalgic and a little offbeat—part landmark, part memory and part song you can’t quite get out of your head.

Acrylic, metallic paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
The Rockpool, Christchurch
Song pairing: The End — The Doors

The Rockpool, remembered in deep violet, metallic gold and dense, almost unruly colour.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, The End captures the final stages of a summer Saturday moving through Christchurch’s iconic nightlife. By this point, the mellow afternoon has disappeared and the night has taken over.

Paired with The End by The Doors, the work carries a sense of arrival and aftermath. The entrance sits at the centre, surrounded by thick vegetation and flashes of fluorescent colour, as if the venue is being absorbed into memory before the night is even over.

Metallic details catch the light, while the expressive surface gives the familiar place something dreamlike and slightly unsteady—the way a city can look at the end of a very long night.

Part landscape, part memory and the final track in a night becoming a story. Acrylic, metallic and fluorescent paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.

Ricki Hudson

Series The Kick On
The British Hotel, Lyttelton, Christchurch
Song pairing: Common People — Pulp

The British Hotel in Lyttelton, captured in electric blue, metallic bronze and flashes of fluorescent colour.

Part of Ricki Hudson’s eight-piece series The Kick On, Common holds a particular moment in a summer Saturday bar crawl through some of Christchurch’s most iconic venues. The building feels familiar but slightly altered—as places often do when remembered through music, mood and a long day beginning to gather momentum.

Paired with Common People by Pulp, the work sits within the earlier rhythm of the series, when the afternoon is unfolding and the night is still ahead. Metallic details catch the light like fragments of stained glass, while the vivid blue ground gives the familiar Lyttelton landmark a heightened, almost dreamlike presence.

Part landscape, part memory and part soundtrack to a city experienced from the inside.

Acrylic, metallic, fluorescent paint and ink on wood 300 × 300 mm

UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.