City Art

"Nikau Vessel," Hastings City June 2008. Ajr I’m a big fan of New Zealand artist, Virginia King and this work, “The Nikau Vessel” is one of a number of public sculptures by well known New Zealand artists commissioned for the Hastings City Centre in Hawke’s Bay. King’s 3-metre-high aluminium and stainless steel sculpture makes a terrific focal point at one end of the city mall - and I love the way kids feel inclined to play around it. Water flows over images of grapes, olives, stone fruit and ferns that appear among the 108,000 holes cut into the stainless steel interior – an obvious reference to the edible bounty the region is famous for; and the “very Deco radiating nikau” reflects the area’s Art Deco heritage. www.virginiakingsculptor.com