Artist: Neil Dawson.

Neil Dawson (New Zealander, b.1948)

Neil Dawson was born in Christchurch 1948, and attended the Canterbury University School of Art from 1966 to 1969, studying sculpture under Tom Taylor and Eric Doudney. He graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1970, and then attended the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, graduating with a Diploma in Sculpture in 1973. Dawson taught drawing and design at Christchurch Polytechnic from 1975 to 1983, but has worked in more recent years as a full-time sculptor. 

 Dawson’s practice has focused on the production of large-scale, and site-specific, sculptures in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the United Kingdom. He is best known for his suspended sculptures, which included "Globe" installed for the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Pompidou Centre, Paris in 1989. And the Main Entry Artworks at the Stadium of Ausralia for the 2000 Olympic Games, and installed "Fanfareon" at the Sydney Harbour Bridge for New Year 2004 to 2005. 

The sphere of silvered leaves is at once a symbol of New Zealand, a dream of a perfect ecology, a still point in a turning world, and a masterpiece of public art.

It's also the grandest New Zealand performance yet by this country's premiere sculptural conjuror. Neil was described as  an artist "who sculpts sky, moulds light, lassoes planets, and builds stairways to heaven from neon and know-how...whose fusion of Pop and Minimalist aesthetics have for two decades graced airspace around the globe. "

Other major commissions have included the Bomber Command war memorial sculpture in Canberra, Australia,

Within NZ his major public works include "Chalice" in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, and Ferns in Civic Square, Wellington.

Neil was the recipient of  the Laureate Award  from New Zealand Arts Foundation in 2003. 

The Laureate Award is an investment in excellence across a range of art forms for an artist with prominence and outstanding potential for future growth. The Award recognizes a moment in the artists' career that will allow them to have their next great success.

In 2005 and 2006 Neil completed his first major outdoor works in the United Kingdom with the installation of "Raindrops" and "Wellsphere" in Manchester. 

In  recent years Neil has returned to making smaller scale works.

I chose to look into Neil since i was attracted by his artwork

"Horizon" in 1994 (which is the year when I came to this world).

This  sculpture just seems like a piece of paper in the wind.

I think Dawson really know how to make good use of  vision, illusion, proportion and the dimension of space. This "wrinkled paper" is a flat two-dimensional painting stand up on the hill, but when you look at it closely, it is a three-dimensional  giant sculpture, as high as 4-floor building, with 118 ft long. The material of the sculpture ought to be tough and hard, but the shape of it is curvy and all you can see is such a soft, mild picture. At the first review of my blog I mentioned that I was used to do casual 2D painting or sketching, while his sculptures are always grand together with subtle design, which is very stunning to me.

And I discover that his small scale sculpture are also very impressive, so I would like to more about him and his work.

reference link:

http://www.neildawson.co.nz

http://gibbsfarm.org.nz/dawson.php

http://www.thearts.co.nz/artist_page.php&aid=50

http://www.milfordgalleries.co.nz/dunedin/artist/197-Neil-Dawson

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/08/10/158560857/giant-crumpled-paper-drops-from-the-sky-lands-on-hill-in-new-zealand

http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/dawson.htm

Fotanian Open Studios (4).

 614 ELEPHANT HOUSE 象舍 (Rm 614, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre)

I was fascinated by the installations in the Elephant House, “The Root” and “Sunlight”.

Looking at the shadow of trees always makes me the feel peaceful and serene, especially under the warm sunshine in winter. It is awesome to bring something like that in to an indoor studio.

The artworks of the Elephant House stick to nature, human history and the Chinese calligraphy.

Elephant quotes the words of Confucius on the caption of “The Root”, “…Have the Heavens made speeches? The four seasons turn through their changes, bringing forth countless beings. What words have the Heavens spoken?”

Indeed, our nature has its own language, but we may neglect or forget it. Art can be a bridge to reconnect human and the nature.

Elephant hoped to show the audience the shadow of the root drifting over the floor with time. Last year she demonstrated the pictograph character ‘root’ and the ancients’ habit of ‘talking knot’ through another means. She crashed her calligraphic works of the past year to making an installation of tree roots. Later on, she tried to use paper-cutting and photography to capture the shape of the shadow. Of course we know that every paper cuttings are unique in our common sense. However, visualizing the paper provokes more thought, and you really want to observe them in detail.

When you can find shadow, where you can find light. The papers not only represent shapes of the shadows, together with the sunlight.

Another artwork “Sunlight” is an interactive installation, suggesting audience to write down what makes them happy on a piece of ‘sunlight’, and put it in one of the bottles. The concept is really poetic. I think “The Root” actually is a part of “Sunlight” and “Sunlight” will then become a part of “The Root”… that is no way and no need separate them into two individual works.

Fotanian Open Studios (3).

QIÁNG 薔  (Rm 1316, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre)

Qiáng comes from the word "Qiáng Wei", in Chinese is "薔薇", means “ wild rose”. The studio was founded in 2010. They choose this name because wild rose is a kind of beautiful flower endures to grow even in extreme weathers.

 

One of the artists, AMA HUEN Ning displayed her paintings of socket, light bulb and hinge...many kinds of trivial things you could find at home.

I often do sketching on any object I see when I am bored. So I like those paintings very much.

Later I find the story behind her paintings: AMA had given birth to her baby last year and this life- changing statues brought influence to her perspectives as well as her works. She followed her son’s sight to observe the world, discovered from the surroundings which people were supposed to familiar with.

The stuff she drew is just so close to our life, seems ordinary but makes me feel warm and peaceful.

I daily life, we seldom spend time to calm ourselves down and take a look at the things around us. Just like the message from the previous work “Play, Pause Rewind, Home”. When we think about all those small facilities at our home, actually they are playing essential role in our life, to link us with the world.

No matter how the world is changing, they stay there quietly and provide the things we need. Silence but powerful.



People always questions “is this a piece of art?” However, I realized it really doesn't matter. At least, that piece of “thing” has already provoked your thought, perhaps that’s the point.

(to be continued)