B.
Burntime
Behind the scenes
Speaking of the light in Australia, here's a memo to all creators of public art in New Zealand: think solar.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Solar Equation 2010. Federation Square, The Light in Winter Festival, Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Marcel Aucar
It might look as though Neil Dawson's Ferns sculpture in Civic Square has gone apocalyptic, but in fact this is Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Solar Equation and it's on as part of Melbourne's Light in Winter festival. In my public-art dream, the organisers of Lyttelton's Festival of Lights tow this object over by boat and let it smoulder away above the harbour. Just the artwork for our own volcanic cone.
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Neil Dawson Whiteout
Neil Dawson’s sculptures consistently explore the slippage between appearance and reality. We think we see solid forms, but on closer inspection they turn out to be illusions.
Whiteout conveys Dawson’s fascination with these ideas and playfully challenges our perceptions of space and movement. This wall sculpture is reminiscent of the early structures of the Dadaists and Russian Constructivist sculptors Vladimir Tatlin (1885–1953) and Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962) in the early 20th century. Dawson is one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary site-specific artists. His innovative use of sculptural materials and principles of perspective are evident in this early example of his work.
Born in Christchurch, Dawson studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts and the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, Melbourne. He has exhibited widely and has several major public installations in New Zealand and internationally.