Two sneaky pics taken at the Walter's Prize show at the New Gallery before i was asked by an attendant to put an end to my snap happiness. A bunch of us decided to go today seeing as it's free entry on a Monday (we were talking just last Friday about how it's silly we should be paying to see New Zealand art anyway esp. with our tax dollars going towards the galleries which house such art). It was great to finally be able to see John Reynold's Cloud in the flesh. Tias was telling me about the process behind the storage of this work, where each and every single canvas (over 7000 of them) has their own little box, and is stored alphabetically.
Our personal favourites were this particular work and also Peter Robinson's ACK which is a polystyrene sculpture that takes up a whole room and a corridor of the gallery. After talking to a Yugoslavian born gallery attendant (I don't quite recall the spelling of her name), she informed us of her observations about how people who didn't come from an 'arts' background normally gravitated towards the works by Edith Amituanai and Lisa Reihana, mostly due to the sheer glossiness and atmosphere (more of Reihana's work). I always find this talk interesting, especially coming from a family who's knowledge of art is still very firmly stuck in Vincent Van Gogh land. It got me thinking that if i were to take my mum to this exhibition, she too would be interested in the photos because they are simply relatable to her. She can understand the sheer size of the photos, the colour in them and the sound she hears, video she watches plus the dreaded word, the 'skill' that one would need to have to take photos like these. The domestic scenes depicted in Edith Amituanai's photos are ones she is familiar with. Whereas she would probably question why someone in their right mind would want to fill up gallery walls with thousands of canvases, some of which she can't even read due to the height at which they were installed...
What do you think? Is this too much of a stereotypical judgement? Keeping in mind i live this very argument everytime i talk to my family about what exactly i do at art school!! And not that being able to appeal to the masses is a hindrance to Reihana's or Amituanai's work. The attendant also said something about how Amituanai's photos, to her, were rather kitsch, which was something i hadnt thought and made me approach them completely differently.
Perhaps the Walter's Prize proves that there's something for everyone in Contemporary New Zealand Art. Perhaps i should bring my mum to it and see what she really says?
But before i ramble too much, the point i really wanted to make is that with the New Gallery being exactly that, a gallery, they were able to keep up to a certain level of presentation and respect in terms of displaying the artwork. Each artist was given enough space and had good use of space as well. The same, however, cannot be said for the Wallace Arts Trust.
Having made the trek to Aotea Centre a few weeks ago to see this exhibition, my friends and i were sadly left disappointed. The grey carpet foam board mixed with the dirty plinths with questionable workmanship left us wondering whether there was any respect placed upon the work that was being shown there. Apparently there were two levels of artwork, but they went to great levels to hide it, as we left having only seen one. It wasn't even until the last five minutes we were there that we discovered two works we hadn't seen yet that had been shoved in a corner. It seems that displaying the work in a way which invites spectatorship wasn't their main priority...or maybe my friends and I just weren't good at reading non existant signs...either way, I regret casting my 'people's choice' vote before having seen the second floor and now it's too late to try and fish it out of the ballot box!
Richard Lewer
“Skill, Discipline, Training”
Synthetic polymer paint on billiard-table cloth, 1200 x 2000
This is the Paramount Award Winner of the Wallace Arts Trust Awards. If you are in Wellington, you can see the exhibition from the 11 October – 3 February and make your own judgments.
The Walters Prize however, is on until the 23rd November. Check it out here: http://www.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/exhibitions/0809waltersprize.asp
- Agnes
p.s. To those of you who i talked to about the gps bus system not working at my bus stop, i finally ended up calling MAXX to report the broken system only to be put 6th in the line with 2 minutes left of credit on my cell phone...and someone has conveniently put a greenpeace sticker over the other timetable so it cannot be read. Ah the woes of public transport...
3 comments:
I have a question about the way Cloud is hung. The fact that its difficult to read it - did you think that detracted from it?
As for your question Amituanai and Reihana's work is way more accessible. That doesn't make it bad but Amituanai's leaves a "so what" feeling. I haven't seen the images in the flesh though so can't coment more.
yes i do often think 'so what' about certain pieces, especially when it comes to photography. And i guess being a painter i am often biased and perhaps even more critical about such works. But often i talk to good friends of mine who take photography and they tend to mention interesting points about photography as a medium that I never think of myself. I shall ask what they think about her works and get back to you.
As for Cloud, it is an interesting point that you make. I never really thought that having to read all of the canvases was an issue, in fact it makes it more engaging with the spectator because the way it is installed in the New Gallery means you have to lean over balconies and such to read certain ones. But it does make me wonder what the ones up the top say...perhaps John can provide a sliding ladder, like they have in libraries, for easy access!!
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