Walking Through

When I was in Wellington a few weeks ago, I sat outside Victoria University's Pipitea Campus, near Bunny Sreet and watched people coming and going, weaving their way through the four sculptures that make up "Seismic Shock," a work by Auckland sculptor, Louise Purvis, installed in 2006.

I'm always interested in the way people react to public sculptures, how they acknowledge them - or not - as they pass by; how they react to other people taking an interest in elements of what may be their everyday environment. I wonder how many people who pass these elegant Carrara marble spheres on a regular basis, have actually stopped and touched them and thought about their relevance. And why did my sitting on one of them raise eyebrows and get second, sometimes admonishing looks? I would have thought Purvis would be delighted that someone had taken the time to run a hand across their smooth, silky surfaces - surfaces that in fact represent topographic gridlines, earthquakes and their disruptive effects on the landscape. Scattered, as though flung about in an earthquake, these 3.5 tonne spheres give us the chance to contemplate the precariousness of life on a faultline. That's a little too sobering for some perhaps. www.sculpture.org.nz

Reflections on Waterfront Art

So.....this is "Mimetic Brotherhood" by Peter Trevelyan, the latest work in Wellington's Four Plinths Sculpture Project outside the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Not the best or clearest of shots I'll admit, but they do demonstrate just how variable the works are at different times of day, in different lights.

These four bulbous but flexible forms made from hinged and mirrored equilateral triangles, envelope the plinths. Trevelyan was one of six sculptors invited to submit a proposal for the 2010 Four Plinths Project and his was selected by the Wellington Sculpture Trust and a panel of artistic advisors. As stated in a small brochure about the work, written by Abby Cunnane: "730 daylight skies will pass overhead during the period Peter Trevelyan's sculpture occupies the Four Plinths in Te Papa forecourt. 730 nights, 730 dawns, 1460 tides will change guard in the harbour. Scudding debris, wind-tortured kites and red-faced pedestrians will appear, and orbit, and depart. All this will be reflected in the multi-faceted mirrored surfaces of the four massive forms. And at the end of two years, they will leave as unaccountably as they arrived, like fictions, like diamonds conjured by fantasy, like extraterrestrial observers."

A very nice little piece of writing I might add. www.wellingtonsculpture.co.nz

Making Way for Art

"Invisible Art"

Anton Parsons

Every time I discover another public sculpture in inner city Wellington, my heart gives an excited little leap. The Wellington Sculpture Trust, formed in 1982, has this fabulous idea that urban spaces can be enhanced by a widely diverse assortment of sculptures by New Zealand artists - it's an idea I wish more New Zealand cities would embrace more whole-heartedly. Christchurch is getting there but I always feel there's a decided lack of good public art in Auckland - an no, I'm not counting Waiheke Island or other private sculpture gardens. I'm sure many people and Wellington and Christchurch ignore the works that are springing up in their midst - walk by them everyday without considering their message, their beauty, their context -though frankly it's a little hard sometimes given the size and presence of most of them. The choices made are always interesting and usually not without their controversy (especially in Christchurch) but I always see large, contemporary public sculpture as a continuation of sorts, of a city's architecture - an important contribution to 'the scale of things,' a statement about who we are as New Zealanders and the issues that inspire us to creativity. Sculpture should be as much a part of the fabric of any city as the people themselves in my view.

Phil Price - Another View

A Different Perspective on Phil Price's sculpture featured in the post below.

If you'd like to see more of Price's work click on Phil Price in the label line below.

Capital Sculpture

With yellow gingko leaves fluttering along Lambton Quay yesterday, I couldn't resist a stop to photograph this sculpture - Protoplasm - by Christchurch sculptor, Phil Price, July 2002, dwarfed by the splendid old MLC Building. I do love the way the Wellington Sculpture Trust and Wellington City Council have collaborated so conscientously to install sculptures all around the city. It makes for some delightful surprises as you wander the streets. www.wellingtonnz.com

A White Albatross

Wellington. April 2009 Ajr I’ve never been a real fan of Tanya Ashken’s sculpture ‘Albatross,’ which sits down on the Wellington waterfront. For a start, it always looks dirty and slightly slimy and stained. But I’m sure there are people who love it. It was installed as part of the Wellington Sculpture Trust project in 1985-86 – in fact fundraising for this ferro-cement work was what spurred the formation of the trust. It’s one of three of Ashken’s works around the capital and to be frank, I don’t like any of them. Ashken was born in England and actually trained as a silversmith. She married New Zealand artist, John Drawbridge in 1960 and after a stint in Paris (where she studied sculpture) they returned to New Zealand in 1963.