Suntrap

"Suntrap." Neil Dawson. Hastings June 2008. Ajr

It was overcast when I visited Hastings in Hawke’s Bay to check out the sculptures that have been installed there as part of the Stage 3 re-development of the central business district. That was a pity because Neil Dawson’s “Suntrap” lost some of its colourful brilliance to the grey day. Erected in 2002, this huge sphere – 3.6 metres in diameter and hoisted 6 metres off the ground – consists of six parasol-like shapes with negative spaces forming leaf shapes….as Dawson says… ‘if you want them to.’ Its brightly-painted surface changes colour with the changing light of the day and the angle of observation; and like most of this Christchurch-based sculptor’s work, it rarely fails to impress. A Dawson sculpture is seldom less than enormous as you’ll see if you look here or here. www.ferns.co.nz