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