Notes on Foyer Works
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Foyer: Rachel Easting, Ngataiharuru Taepa, Multiples Cabinets
Two large sculptures, Rachel Easting’s Love and Desire and Ngataiharuru Taepa’s Te Wai Tai, Te Wao Tu, inhabit the foyer space of the Gallery. Both use a combination of industrial and ‘hand’ making processes, resulting in a seamless finish, a bold visual impact that lulls us into thinking these works have just ‘arrived’ into being. Each work has resulted from ongoing investigations by each artist into how personal and cultural meanings are formed and expressed.
In Easting’s work, Love and Desire, a violent struggle between a lion and a unicorn is frozen in time. Desire can be seen as the frenzied lion and love in the fear-struck unicorn. Both creatures have a raft of symbolic associations, and are often cast as oppositional forces. Each have been regarded as ‘king of the beasts’ though with very different attributes—the unicorn was thought to rule through harmony whereas the lion ruled through strength. The work explores power dynamics in play between genders and how these extend to behavioural expectations. What appears like an up-sized china ornament or a fragment of a carousel ride, is an invented confection. Layers and layers of automotive spray paints have been used to produce the high gloss sheen; the sickly-sweet colours only heighten the pathos of the tussle and underline its connections with fairytale and legend.
In Taepa’s work the artist continues his exploration of the complexities found within kowhaiwhai and the way that these relate to people and their environment. While sharing an aesthetic with his work He Rau Kawakawa in Gallery One, this work is a separate investigation. Te Wai Tai, Te Wao Tu is inspired by a wananga Taepa attended, hosted by Te Roroa, which took place in the Waipoua forest at the beginning of 2006. The artist states: ‘It expresses the visual connections made between the Waipoua Forest and Ripiroa Beach at that time and connects people with their elders, the fish, the trees; those things that were here long before people’.
Multiples Cabinets
The eye-poppingly gorgeous signage made by Liz Allan is designed to alert you to the fact that there is contemporary art for sale in the Multiples Cabinets in the foyer. Artists exhibiting in 'Telecom Prospect 2007' as well as artists from around New Zealand have been invited to contribute a multiple (or artists’ edition) for sale. Why not start (or embellish) your very own art collection? For assistance viewing any works in the cabinets please ask the Gallery Hosts at the front desk.
For more information on each of these artists, go to the individual artist pages on this site.