Press releases + Photos :)

Photo by Andy Morley Hall

5 September 2009

NIPPLE FRIDGE TAKES THE PRIZE

In the Page Blackie Gallery last night, Intersect - a national network of young leaders in sustainability - awarded 22 year old Amelia Hitchcock for her artwork “New Zealand Pure”. The artwork is a ‘dunger’ of a fridge - stacked with old fashioned baby bottles filled with water collected from lowland rivers around the artist’s home town , Wanganui.

“..In a nation that proclaims to the world to be ‘clean and green,’ 90% of our lowland rivers are so polluted, you cannot gather food or swim in them” says Amelia.

Her artwork ‘New Zealand Pure’ is reflective of the state of our freshwater systems, a visual representation of the legacy that we are creating for our next
generation.

The Waiora art competition received entries from all over the country. During the judging process, the judges named the originally untitled work ‘Nipple Fridge’ to distinguish it from other entries, an obvious cheeky reference to the visual impact of the work. Judges included Megan Tamati-Quenelle from Te Papa, Artists Wayne Youle & Sophie Jerram, James Blackie from Page Blackie Gallery and Hayden Montgomerie from UNESCO.

Megan Hosking from Intersect says she is delighted with the result. “We wanted to provoke people into thinking about the issue of our freshwater, and that’s exactly what has happened. As a result, a whole lot of young people across New Zealand have been thinking deeply about water and its significance to our nation. Young New Zealand artists are the right people to work with this issue.” The work is intended to tour public sites, not unlike a roving coffee cart, dispensing a message to its surrounding public which Hosking hopes will enable even more people to come into contact with the issue. Future display sites will include a hospital, a theatre, as well as a university alongside the coke machine.

The art competition was sponsored this year by the New Zealand Commission for UNESCO.



National Youth Art Award Opening

The opening night of the National Youth Art Award on Friday 18 September announced 4 winners out of the 42 finalists. The judges, Kate Darrow and Allison Ewing, were thrilled with the quality of the work and said the initiative for a youth award was important. They predicted that the National Youth Art Award would continue to grow.

The overall winner, Ben Pearce, from Napier, entered a beautifully made wooden sculpture called 'Great-grandfather Clock'. Though it looks fragile and unbalanced (deliberately), it is suprisingly sturdy and well made with beautifully carved detail in native New Zealand woods. It is a first rate contemporary sculpture which is eminently collectible. The first prize was $2000 sponsored by Tompkins Wake Lawyers.

Danielle Appleton, from Hamilton, won with a blown glass contemporary sculpture which lights up. Amelia Hitchcock, from Wanganui, won with a professional study of a carved apple undergoing decay. Both of those works sold on the night. Category prizes won $300 cash. Convex Plastics sponsored the 3D prize.

Finally, Mikaere Gardiner won the recycled (found materials) award with a dynamic painting on video cassettes of superheroes superimposed on the silhouette of a cave man. In addition to the cash prize, he received a beautiful plaque sponsored by the Peter Sauerbier Trust, care of Remains to Be Scene. Ludwina Saubier of Remains to be Scene is Peter Saubier's daughter.

The place was packed to the walls with people coming in all evening. The music by The Trons, the robot band, fascinated young and old alike. Younger artists came with parents, grandparents and friends; older ones came parents, grandchildren, spouses and children. More than 200 people came through in the evening.

Overall the standard was high and the best was very high indeed. The overall winner is a finalist in the Wallace Award this year, and at least two are international exhibitors, one with a con-current exhibition in Spain and the other opening next week in Israel. Several are finalists in the National Youth Photography Award also announced on Friday night. The finalists range from talented high school students developing both skills and concepts to professional artists becoming established.

We have had a small stream of visitors in to see the exhibition since. Many of the visitors are young artists who are greatly impressed with the venue with it very high roof and window walls front and back. Some of our visitors are art lovers who are pleased with the quality of the art and others are off the street people who normally do not go to galleries and were attracted to the mid CBD location on Victoria Street.

The success of the National Youth Art Award means that Waikato Society of Arts will definitely be organising this award again.

Ucol's Press release here. 

Yuken Teruya

Yuken Teruya is another artist who I feel my work relates to.

"Yuken Teruya manipulates everyday objects, transforming their meanings to reflect on contemporary society and culture. Cutting trees out of paper bags and cardboard toilet paper rolls, he creates meticulous and intricate art works, small and enchanting worlds, which relate to broader concerns. In each bag and roll, the shape of a tree is created without adding or removing anything, just by cutting out and folding the paper from the bag itself. Teruya’s works explore issues such as the growing consumerism of contemporary society, depleting natural resources and other problems associated with globalism, including the threat it poses to localized cultural traditions and identities. " -Yuken Teruya homepage

His works are pretty damn stunning. He made a forest out of the toilet paper roll trees by placing them on rods of different lengths attached to the walls! It's awesome, but what I'm also really relating to is the photographical element to his sculptural practise. I think the photographic documentation of most of my works this year has really added to the impact of the objects, and I'm working on displaying both photograph and object together for my end of year show.

Nele Azevedo

Brazillian Artist Nele Azevedo has been making little ice men since 2005. Xtiaan told me about this about a month ago, and but couldn't remember the name of the artist.
The above photos came from an installtion in Berlin Square, and were used to highlight climate change. Interestingly, Azevedo had no initial interest in the environmental side of the work. When asked in an interview on greenmuze.com if she was a climate change activist she replied,

"No. I'm an artist, master of visual arts from the University of Sao Paulo (UNESP). This work was conceived as a critical view of the official historical monuments. As the reading and interpretation of an art piece is open, I'm glad it can also speak of urgent matters that threaten our existence on this planet."

Well that's interesting, I know what that's like. I know that I'm creating work that speaks to global environmental issues, but I'm an artist first and formost....

Greenmuze.com is a pretty sweet site though, and will be duely added to the links bar.

Waikato National Youth Award 2009

Went to Hamilton for the National Youth Awards last night, I was one of 42 finalists. There was a wide range of entries, in lots of different media, which was nice to see. There was a good selection of artists from the earliest begginnings at the youngest age (15), right through to the established ones who were closer to the cut off age (27).

I was really pleased my One Bad Apple was right by the entrance, and will be viewed even when the gallery is closed. Having perused the other entries, I'd made up my mind that Ben Pearce's
Great Grandfather Clock was the clearly the overall winner. But it was nice to hear people saying that it was between my piece and his. Excitement in the first ten minutes, my print SOLD! was the first to get a red sticker. Joy!

Award speeches were short and sweet, I picked the winner, and rightly so, but was chuffed to get the best 2D prize. :)

The 'robot band' The Trons was quite impressive, and provided nice aural wallpaper. Also managed to nip down to the opening of Lizzy's gallery , Aesthete, to catch up with her.

Been down the markets this morning with 3rd year crew, we made about $500 towards our end of year show, so that was pretty damn sweet :D A good start to the weekend.

Videos

Placing my art in contemporary/art historical context:
A friend of mine, Em, suggested I look up Sam Taylor Wood after seeing my apple print. She hasn't seen the video yet, but these videos, and the text by Ossian Ward are really awesomely relevant to my work. Especially my Opposite of Green Video which I'm working on for pattillo.

"Two earlier films, Still Life of 2001 and A Little Death of 2002, similarly employ the distortion of time – except by speeding it up rather than by stopping it – in order to reveal the extant drama in the banality of the everyday. They also draw on the history of art, specifically from still life painting, long considered the lowliest and most insignificant among subjects for art. The camera records the rotting and putrefaction of, in the first instance, an arrangement of fruit in a bowl, and in the second, a freshly hung hare, both table settings commonly depicted in traditional still life painting. While the 17th-century Dutch or Spanish still life painters captured a peach at its moment of perfect ripeness or a flower in full bloom, Taylor-Wood’s films brings this ordinary genre of foodstuff to life, albeit through the very process of its degeneration. In a further irony, the whole image is magically renewed once the video loops back to the beginning, enacting an “eternal return”, as Nietzsche would have it, denying “Time’s thievish progress to eternity” as Shakespeare would have preferred it." - Ossian Ward, White Cube - Sam Taylor Wood

Got into the Waikato Youth Art Awards Finals :) Now to get the work to Hamilton, it might be too long to courier... Sadface.

Intersect Young New Zealand Artist 2009

Waiora

The launch of my New Zealand Pure art work is this Friday. I'm anxious, I have to give a speech.
Had a critique today. Everyone loved my Venus for the 21st Century lionel suggested making sure I can quote off the top of my head artists that have been influencial.
I'm gonna have to do a lot of printing etc in the holidays. I'm just too tired to do it now. I also printed out my portfolio for Friday, and wrote my statement etc.
Got my application for the Waikato Youth Art Awards sent off, and they recieved it in time which was also good. Just waiting to hear if I got in or not now, although am a little worried as the A4 format required for judging does not really do a 22x150cm print any justice at all, and cutting it in half is kind of distracting, sadly.
Had a serious migraine Monday/Tuesday, that is lingering today, hoping I'll be sweet for Friday.
Not much else to say, no time for research this week.