Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu

Christchurch Art Gallery is a must-visit in Christchurch!

Of course, I could be accused of being prejudiced – I lived opposite the gallery as it was built, so heard and felt every pile being driving into the stoney Canterbury soil, so agree, I do have a feeling of ownership.

Here are a few photos I took in December.

this is always used as a canvas

one of my absolute favourite pieces

‘our bull’

window cleaning is not a job I want

A few other photos from over the years:

Christchurch Art Gallery —

window art a Christchurch Art Gallery, NZ

Christchurch Art Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Sunday afternoon in Christchurch

A few images from a lovely afternoon in Christchurch, New Zealand. (taken on my phone)

Christchurch Art Gallery reflects me and old villas

Hard to see, but a few godwits feed after recently arriving for their summer feed fest (from Alaska)

Yellow wattle and blue skies at The Columbo shopping centre

the award-winning cafe Hello Sunday in an old church. Beside The Columbo

Entrance to Rutherford’s Den. Christchurch Arts Centre

 

Christchurch Art Gallery – a must visit

Mueck comes to Christchurch

Christchurch Art gallery has a Ron Mueck exhibition, opening  tomorrow (2nd October 2010 – 23rd Jan 2011), and I had a sneak preview today.

According to Wikipedia Mueck “began his career working on Australian children’s television programs, and his early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo, and the Jim Henson series The Storyteller.

Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry.

In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine art, collaborating with his mother-in-law, Paula Rego, to produce small figures as part of a tableau she was showing at the Hayward Gallery. Rego introduced him to Charles Saatchi who was immediately impressed and started to collect and commission work. This led to the piece which made Mueck’s name, Dead Dad, being included in the Sensation show at the Royal Academy the following year.

In 2002 his sculpture Pregnant Woman was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for AU$800,000.”

the new born baby dwarfs a woman

The rest as they say is history. I found the  exhibition challenging – interesting, fascinating, almost disturbing. While the sculpture of his dead father was acceptable, as soon as I  turned the corner, there is a mask of the  artist. really large and although I wanted to touch the life-like face – of course I didn’t  touch and nor should you … this is strictly don’t touch show.

Mueck ‘s sculpture played with my perception about scale. The smaller forms, like the old ladies, although amazing, didn’t challenge me like the extra-large  pieces. They were challenging and I felt I was being intrusive – intruding into a personal space. Make sure you see it too – I  don’t want to put more photos here or it may spoil the experience.

Tell me what you think.  Love it; hate it; or? Leave a comment.