Gregor Kregar
‘And surely man is worth far more than a sheep!’
Matthew 12:12
The role of man and sheep has important connotations for New Zealand in both historical and contemporary contexts. Together they have transformed New Zealand’s rugged natural environment into a highly productive agricultural country. It has been an ongoing exercise—and the result is an industry that shaped not only the land but also the cultural and economical identity of New Zealand. The sheep population has grown, and declined, to the present ratio of twelve sheep to every person.
'Matthew 12:12' is the title for a series of works which started in January 2003 as a live sculptural installation, which will be restaged on the lawns outside City Gallery Wellington. It involves the placement of twelve live sheep in a white picket fenced enclosure. The participating sheep are dressed in a range of colourful custom-made woollen body suits; their woollen garments knotted out of pure New Zealand wool in a loose pattern.
I later developed another component in which I depicted twelve sheep dressed using the tradition of life-scale portrait photography. Portrait photography is the site of a complex series of interactions—aesthetic, cultural, ideological, sociological and psychological. Historically it was equated with the highly privileged form of oil painting. Early formal portrait photography was reserved for the elite, to commemorate upper privileged people of our society (kings, queens, heroes, presidents etc.). With the development of the camera becoming accessible to the general public the portrait or snapshot takes on another context.
The ‘Matthew 12:12’ series sets up a platform where these usually aesthetically invisible beings, sheep, challenge our conventional means of perception. The work is ambiguous and destabilises the usual one-way gaze, creating the possibility for reciprocal observation. The public is challenged to consider whether what they are looking at is ‘art’, ‘nature’, an aesthetic composition, or a functional undertaking.
Gregor Kregar, artist statement, 2006
Gregor Kregar’s ‘Matthew 12:12’ series appears in ‘Telecom Prospect 2007’ as a suite of photographic portraits, as a video in the SQUARE2 moving image programme, from 26 March – 15 April 2007; and as a live installation in Civic Square, Wellington, from Friday 30 March – Sunday 1 April 2007.
Gregor Kregar artist bio:
Born Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1972
Lives and works in Auckland
Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Master of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
Selected solo exhibitions include: 'Ridiculous Sublime', Bowen Galleries, Wellington (2006); 'Pygg/Piggy Bank Project', Craft Victoria, Melbourne (2006); 'Pygg/Piggy Bank Project', Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton, Australia (2005); 'I disappear', Bowen Galleries, Wellington (2005); 'I appear and disappear', Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin and Te Tuhi, Pakuranga (2004).
Selected group exhibitions include: 'A&P Show', Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch (2006); 'Animal Show', Bowen Galleries, Wellington (2006); 'Backgrounds of Landscapes', Lopdell House Gallery, Auckland (2005); 'Political Landscapes', Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin (2004); 'Left in the members lounge', Objectspace, Auckland (2004).
Image credits:
Gregor Kregar
Details of Matthew 12:12 Live installation (2003-2006)
Photograph: Max Osborne
Courtesy of the artist