I am a gatherer of things. One peek through the windows of my house would show you that. Every room is a testament to
the layer upon layer of visual stimulii and memory that I have gathered over a lifetime so far. I am fascinated by the whole concept of collecting – why we even have the urge, what we choose to collect and how we choose to display it – or not, as the case may be.
I have thought long and hard about why I surround myself with so much stuff – much of it completely valueless in a monetary sense. I’m not sure I have come up with any concrete and completely satisfying answers but I do know it is not about materialism.
For me it is more about the notion of things – colours, textures, forms and the subtle combinations of all three – triggering some deeply-stored memory. For the writer and artist in me, those memories form the rich, creative storehouse that feeds and drives my output. I couldn’t be without them - and believe me I've tried. Not all creative people work and think this way or course; not all respond to visual stimulii; and those who gather things are not all engaged in creative pursuits. I was reminded of this recently when I stayed with friends in Auckland. I went about photographing things in their house –
the things they have arranged to stamp their home with an individuality that can’t readily be replicated; at least not replicated in any way that comes from the heart. I saw recurring colours, recurring patterns, repeated forms, often-missed links – as the photographs here aptly demonstrate.
It pleased me. More than that, it excited and inspired me and gave me a deeper insight into them as people.
I have returned to this topic on this blog many times and now that I sit here considering the matter (
looking at my office windowsill crammed full with its little displays of birds’ eggs, seed pods, wooden cotton reels, feathers, stones, cones and a small Buddha), I am also reminded of an interview I did for a magazine last year. The owner was a complex character with a huge and impressive collection of modern art, furniture, design items, antiques and quirky collectibles.
It was like stepping inside
a small private museum curated by someone with an inherent understanding of what moved them visually, emotionally and intellectually. Every space had a purpose and every treasure a place. It was an interior that combined history, design principles and personal stories.
“I am a hunter and a gatherer,” the owner said.
“But it is more than just collecting. It is about the manifestation of a certain consciousness – the almost subconscious gathering of aesthetically pleasing things that are subtly linked.
Things are put together around central themes - that is what makes a house alive. The more contemporary downstairs is all about looking forward and outward and the more traditional upstairs is about looking backwards and inwards.”
To illustrate his point, he drew attention to the simple black and white design elements in twelve fabric posters made in 1852 by the London Workingmen’s Educational Union (discovered in a Christchurch antique shop) and the stylistic similarities they shared with the exquisite hand-painted Fornisetti desk from Fornisetti in Milan.
“It all comes together around subtle connections,” he said.
“Individual items become something different when they are placed within a certain context.
They expand and become alive – full of soul and spirit.”
Someone else who has written about this subject recently is
Christchurch art historian, Cheryl Bernstein. You can read her excellent piece "
The Accidental Curator" on her blog,
http://cherylbernstein.blogspot.com
The billboards are up and the anticipation is high: Tonight is the opening of Neil Pardington’s fabulous photographic show, The Vault at Christchurch Art Gallery – a collection of 40 large-format photographs that give us a privileged peek behind the scenes at museums and art galleries around New Zealand. It’s a brilliant ‘expose’ of the behind-the-scenes artefacts and collections in storage. 
He got the idea for the photographic series while he was working behind the scenes at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and it has been a work in progress ever since as he has explored the vaults, archives and basements of museums, art galleries, archives, banks, libraries and hospitals – “my focus is on places we store those things that are precious to us and conversely, those very similar spaces we store the obsolete and unwanted,” he has said of his work.
Pardington’s photographs ‘expose storehouses of memory and places filled with mystifying treasure.’ They include my favourites, the stuffed animals and birds…all with cute little cardboard labels attached to their legs; paintings attached to sliding storage walls; specimens in jars; rooms filled with mannequins; shelves filled with rolls of film in tins; Maori artefacts; buildings filled with army vehicles; textiles, card catalogues and much more. It’s a scrumptiously voyeuristic peek into the normally unseen, off-limits world of the nation’s treasures and it will be on show at Christchurch Art Gallery until March 14, 2010. www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz www.neilpardington.com
Top Image: Neil Pardington Land and Marine Mammal Store #5 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 2006. Lambda/C-print. Reeproduced courtesy of the artist & Christchurch Art Gallery.
Bottom Image: Neil Pardington Taonga Maori Store #2, Whanganui Regional Museum 2006. Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Christchurch Art Gallery.
