Emma Camden, Bing Dawe, Paul Dibble, Don Driver, David Murray, Veronika Maser, Josh Olley, John Parker, Llew Summers

17th October – 7 November 2008 Preview Friday 17th @ 5pm

With An Object In Mind models space, both that occupied by the artwork as well as the negative voids between. Showcasing works by Emma Camden, Don Driver, Bing Dawe, Paul Dibble, David Murray, Veronika Maser, Josh Olley, John Parker and Llew Summers, the exhibition celebrates the unique physicality of three dimensional art objects.

With An Object In Mind encompasses space, line, surface and volume as well as aesthetic complexities and exceptional design qualities peculiar to the sculptural form. Often neglected, or seen as a poor cousin to painting as a medium, this exhibition attempts to redress the balance drawing attention to the strong and distinctive object based contemporary art movement within New Zealand. Incorporating a selection of three dimensional art works in a variety of media including bronze, ceramic, found objects, glass, stone, wire and wood by established, significant and innovative artists in their field, the exhibition engages with the viewers spatial senses.

For price enquiries please contact Lydia Baxendell: lydia@gallery33.co.nz

Emma Camden

Considered one of New Zealand’s leading studio glass artists, Emma Camden’s characteristic architectural forms show a virtuoso handling of cast glass. An urban narrative thread runs through Camden’s glass sculptures speaking of immigration, environment, transport and location.

A master of light and volume, Camden deftly exploits the translucent nature of her medium. Passage gradually transforms in hue from yellow to burnt orange as the artist skilfully adjusts the depth allowing light to enter. Camden constructs lines within space, steep tapering pinnacles tip playfully toward each other while light dramatically pierces the centre cavities further illuminating and silhouetting the angular planes.

For further images and information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Emma Camden

Passage (2008), cast glass, 380x1100x170mm

Don Driver

Don Driver, New Zealand’s master of assemblage is an individualist who has challenged and stimulated audiences for much of the latter half of last century. His three dimensional compositions reference the real world, our culture, industry and consumerism. Driver embraces the found and discarded drawing together incongruous articles such as rope, plastic pipe, metal, wood, animal skulls, second-hand clothing and toys. In the hands of the artist society’s unwanted detritus is transformed by the artist into lyrical and aesthetically pleasing assemblages. Driver’s works characteristically retain part of their original function or identity while exploring fresh ways to represent an object. He rearranges and fragments the pictorial space into a harmonic rhythm of shape and colour.

Rollaway, a large never before exhibited assemblage, creates the image of a giant roller skate. Blue bursts and drips accent the natural tar and off white body, back wheels spin with kinetic energy and a ram skull picks up speed bolted atop a metal bucket. Driver’s shrewd composition causes the eye to follow a visual arc between the toe of the boot through the air and across the curve of the horns. A similar sense of movement is caused by the sweeping semicircles occurring in the bucket lids of Driver’s playful On The Roof assemblage. The jolting rainbow rattle clasped by an exotic orphaned doll provoke a spontaneous grin. It is precisely these animated and outlandish compositions, owning a curious and intoxicating magnetism that have established Driver’s reputation as a leading force of his craft.

For further images and biographical information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Don Driver

SIDE VIEW: Rollaway (2000), mixed media, 610x515x247mm	FRONTAL VIEW: Rollaway (2000),	On The Roof (1979-2001), mixed media, 710x480x480mm

Bing Dawe

Prominent sculptor and environmentalist Bing Dawe possesses a distinctive style of art which engages with pressing environmental and social issues in a way that inspires contemplation and open dialogue.

These striking sculptures made from cast and painted resin and steel offer insight into two of our smallest native bird species the Riroriro or Grey Warbler and the Rifleman or Titipounamu. Though not endangered, the vulnerability of these rare endemic birds is brought to our attention. Dawe has recently been investigating the premature extinction of a species of flightless Wren on Stephens Island due (so the story goes) to a lighthouse keeper’s cat. His sculptures are a cautionary narrative concerning the tragedy that can befall our native wild life without human care and foresight. Both A Landscape with Too Many Holes/Riroriro and Roundelay, the Quiet Call of the Rifleman evoke imagery of adornment, the circular necklace form conveying the treasured birds that adorns our land. In A Landscape with Too Many Holes/Riroriro, Dawe utilises a positive and negative image to express the balance or consequence of change and upheaval on our ecosystem. The metal sheet echoes the shape of a light house, the silhouette of the bird cut from the surface reduced to a hole articulating impending extinction where all that remains is a memory or shadow on the wall.

For further images and biographical information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Bing Dawe

A Landscape with Too Many Holes/Riroriro (2008), cast resin and steel, 1000x700x300mm	Roundelay, the Quiet Call of the Rifleman (2008), cast resin and steel, edition 2/5 300x220x60mm

Paul Dibble

Paul Dibble has an established reputation as one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary figurative sculptors. With adept skill Dibble shapes, pares and fragments his sculptures to create a fluid, weightless appearance. He provides a partial narrative; a suggestive curve, a band of negative space or an outstretched limb evoking a particular notion, mood or memory.

In the late 1990’s Dibble’s sculpture underwent a transformation. The figurative form becoming progressively abstracted, pared to the geometric bones of a body. Arms and legs were reduced and flattened to cones or rectangles; heads replaced with spheres and breasts an incised circle through the form. From this a new Soft Geometric series emerged in 2004 in which the artist has continued to explore the sensuous female form. This 2008 sculpture is a superb formal juxtaposition of curvature, volume and positive/negative space; the form is at once a vessel or boat, a horizon and of course a reclining nude. The curvaceous beauty lies luxuriantly, one leg swung up and over. A thin band of negative space cuts through the centre indicating the line of stomach and pelvis and a koru shape delineates an arm while at the same time intimating Maori relief carving as well as a mischievous nudge to the work of artist Gordon Walters.

For further images and biographical information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Paul Dibble

Soft Geometric Model (2008), cast bronze edition 3/3, 330x600x200mm

David Murray

Significant cast glass artist David Murray is well known for his Hunter, Gatherer and Territory series. With a signature graduated colour and density, his simple yet powerful pieces examine sculptural scale suggesting contradictory elements of fragility and strength.

His large substantial Territory piece constructed from a single curved slab of opulent orange/red glass is a subtle reflection of the landscape. The restrained organic curvature of form rises to opposing jagged peaks emulating a craggy landscape while also providing us with a sense of action and an awareness of the maker. On one side the surface has been smoothed to a high polish while on the opposing side undulating ridges and grooves create surface tension akin to strata or a lava current giving the impression of inner movement and turmoil.

Murray explains 'my work uses simple ambiguous shapes and the qualities of the glass to create a sense of these fundamental stimuli. They are neither tool nor weapon but describe a feeling of intent to make simple minimal forms without embellishment. These are large solid pieces and I am trying to achieve a silent presence in the work.'

For further images and biographical information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: David Murray

Territory (2008), cast galss, 325x500x80mm	DETAIL Territory (2008)

Veronika Maser

Swiss born sculptor Veronika Maser draws optical illusions in space. Constructed from wire, her intricate wall hung works are at once two and three dimensional objects.

Maser’s works are an exploration of containment, the interior and exterior. She oxidises segments of the wire to bring about an illusory depth, furthering this effect by utilising the shadow cast on the wall as an additional facet. Repetitive and complex patterns inspired by lace doilies, Islamic art, microscopic plant cells and medical journals are woven and enlarged to dramatic scale.

‘Exploring these textures and shapes and extending its forms I intend to create a landscape that evokes feeling of cosmic exploration. By enlarging this imagery I articulate a language addressing issues of culture, contemplation, identity, the question of our existence and remembering links to the past and the moment.’

For further images and information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Veronika Maser

Transient (2008), wire, 1250x540mm	Transmute (2008), wire, 1660x680mm

Josh Olley

A self-taught carver practicing for over a decade, Josh Olley produces contemporary works that position themselves at once within the past, present and future. He sees his work as ‘a means of expressing his respect and appreciation for nature.’ Gathering materials such as bone, shell, stone and wood from the land and providing them with a second life.

Carving is an ancient tradition in many cultures and Olley sees his work as a means of preserving and developing the language of our ancestors. Olley has long held a fascination for artefacts, visiting museums and researching traditional tools. The beauty bestowed upon practical items in primordial cultures is expanded upon as Olley repositions traditional carving methods and forms into the twentieth century.

Olley’s pieces command a quiet strength and beauty. His wall hung New Moon inlays ornately carved gleaming white bone into the hard and dark surface of Bluff granite The work exploring the importance of embracing or appreciating change. In Our Hands arduously carved and polished from velvet green Southland baked argillite is representative ‘of us as individuals and as a society; those unique gifts that we hold within equally.’ Koru constructed from Kanuka, granite, shell and feathers, observes the origins of the two syllables Ko and Ru of a now familiar word in New Zealand vocabulary. ‘The Ko’, Olley explains is an ancient digging tool used extensively here and in other countries including Scotland and Mexico to loosen soil in preparation for cultivation. Ru is an abbreviation for Ruaumoko the earthquake god who in Maori mythology lies unborn within the earth mother. His stirrings have been long associated with activating abundant seasons of fruits above the ground. Together these syllables create the work Koru, often understood as growth and new beginnings. An ancient symbol here and with many other countries worldwide.’

For further images and biographical information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Josh Olley

John Parker

John Parker, one of New Zealand’s leading ceramicists has developed an artistic approach and style distinctly his own. Recognised for the restrained beauty and technical precision of his wheel turned bowl, bottle, orb and vase forms, Parker explores the aesthetic dramas of light, volume, rhythm and line.

Parker is additionally an established theatre and exhibition designer. Utilising his adept design skills in both fields, his ceramics own aspects of the stage. Placed individually or in groups they build lyrical rhythms of repetition, each groove or shadow playing upon its neighbour. There is a strong sculptural and architectural element to Parker’s aesthetic where each piece and cluster establishes a unique and elegant still-life composition.

In 1996 Parker made the decision to work exclusively in the colour white. Surprisingly this reduced vocabulary has served the artist well merely causing his work to become more refined and assured with time. Parker is a master of surface, form and the endless potentialities of white. The artist continues to explore the formal qualities of white varying glazes from high gloss, matt and most recently applying a layer of textured slip to the surface from which the grooved structure emerges.

For further images and biographical information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: John Parker

Textured grooved orb (2008), ceramic, 310mm high	Gloss grooved Vase (2008), ceramic, 190mm high	Textured grooved bottle (2008), ceramic, 355mm high

 

ceramic installation

Llew Summers

Widely respected Christchurch based sculptor Llew Summers is known for his voluptuous and seductive celebrations of the human form. Believing that art should be primarily about beauty, Summers’ is an intuitive sculptor who creates from the heart.

Summers’ nudes are disproportionate and the poses distorted as the curvaceous sculptures deliberately focus on the contrast between solidity and weight of form. Detailed marks are incised on the hair, fingers and splayed toes of Summers’ figures while the greater mass is simplified to fluid form and motion.

Whether carved from marble, or cast from bronze, Summers’ works tantalize the viewer with elements of narrative intrigue. At times joyous and celebratory such as the passionate energy of the dancing couple in Tango and at other times sorrowful or contemplative such as Seated Woman and Sad Angel, Summers’ works portray tender sentiments offering contemporary statements of spirituality.

For further images and information regarding the artist click on the link to his artist page: Llew Summers

Tango (2008), bronze - edition of 7, 340x275x120mm	Sad Angel (2008), marble, 310x90x120mm	Seated Woman (2008), bronze - edition of 7, 300x290x160mm

Text by Lydia Baxendell 2008