B.
Fresh from The Matrix
Behind the scenes
Right on time for the opening at 209 Tuam Street tonight of the Glen Hayward/Yvonne Todd combo White Collar, the courier's just dropped off a box of City Gallery's fresh-from-the-printer catalogues about Glen's work.
The catalogue (which, I ought to parochially add, is part supported by Christchurch Art Gallery), documents the installation in Wellington this year of Glen's latest 'undercover' sculpture, a hand-carved and -painted recreation of the famous office cubicle environment from the opening scenes of the movie The Matrix.
As WCG's Aaron Lister points out, "in the film, the cubicle doesn't really exist. It is part of an illusionary world designed to trap humanity within a dream state. In the making of the film, the cubicle used was no more real. Rather, it was a prop that looked like a cubicle, and likely no more functional than Hayward's wooden version. The cubicle you encounter in the show then is a replica of a replica of a replica, portraying something that never really existed."
Glen Hayward, I don't want you to worry about me, I have met some Beautiful People, installation view (detail), City Gallery Wellington, 2013. Photo: Hamish McLaren.
In Christchurch, of course, Glen's play on reality and illusion looks interesting for other reasons too. Displayed in a temporary gallery that was formerly a real office environment, his phantom cubicle also resonates with the changing spaces of post-earthquake Christchurch, where many offices, vacated and demolished, can now be reconstructed only in memory.
Glen will talking on Saturday at 209 Tuam Street , as will Yvonne Todd. She's on at 11; he, 12.
Related
Collection
Glen Hayward Yertle
Glen Hayward’s towering Yertle had its origins in a collection of twenty-eight abandoned paint tins he spied in a back-of-house Christchurch Art Gallery storeroom, containing the residue of wall colours from past exhibitions. Meticulously recreating these tins out of wood, Hayward then painted his carved replicas, faithfully reproducing every smear and drip of forgotten paint.
Stacked up like its namesake, Dr Seuss’s vainglorious turtle king, Hayward's Yertle is a feat of painstaking fearlessness. (Above ground, 2015)
Collection
Glen Hayward Shrink wrap
Works of art aren’t as well behaved as they used to be. Once upon a time, they stayed where they were put, hanging obediently off picture rails or perching politely on pedestals. Since the arrival of the Duchampian readymade, however, many require a second glance to distinguish them from the world around them, as everyday objects are pressed into service in new, perspective-tilting contexts. There’s another kind of work too, the type Glen Hayward is known for: the readymade’s stealthier cousin. Meticulously, even obsessively, crafted to resemble objects you wouldn’t give another glance, these unobtrusive double agents aim to blend in, adding a subversive frisson to the gallery experience.
(Unseen: The Changing Collection, 18 December 2015 – 19 June 2016)
Collection
Glen Hayward Closed circuit
Works of art aren’t as well behaved as they used to be. Once upon a time, they stayed where they were put, hanging obediently off picture rails or perching politely on pedestals. Since the arrival of the Duchampian readymade, however, many require a second glance to distinguish them from the world around them, as everyday objects are pressed into service in new, perspective-tilting contexts. There’s another kind of work too, the type Glen Hayward is known for: the readymade’s stealthier cousin. Meticulously, even obsessively, crafted to resemble objects you wouldn’t give another glance, these unobtrusive double agents aim to blend in, adding a subversive frisson to the gallery experience.
(Unseen: The Changing Collection, 18 December 2015 – 19 June 2016)
Collection
Glen Hayward Red Form
Works of art aren’t as well behaved as they used to be. Once upon a time, they stayed where they were put, hanging obediently off picture rails or perching politely on pedestals. Since the arrival of the Duchampian readymade, however, many require a second glance to distinguish them from the world around them, as everyday objects are pressed into service in new, perspective-tilting contexts. There’s another kind of work too, the type Glen Hayward is known for: the readymade’s stealthier cousin. Meticulously, even obsessively, crafted to resemble objects you wouldn’t give another glance, these unobtrusive double agents aim to blend in, adding a subversive frisson to the gallery experience.
(Unseen: The Changing Collection, 18 December 2015 – 19 June 2016)
Collection
Glen Hayward Typo
Works of art aren’t as well behaved as they used to be. Once upon a time, they stayed where they were put, hanging obediently off picture rails or perching politely on pedestals. Since the arrival of the Duchampian readymade, however, many require a second glance to distinguish them from the world around them, as everyday objects are pressed into service in new, perspective-tilting contexts. There’s another kind of work too, the type Glen Hayward is known for: the readymade’s stealthier cousin. Meticulously, even obsessively, crafted to resemble objects you wouldn’t give another glance, these unobtrusive double agents aim to blend in, adding a subversive frisson to the gallery experience.
(Unseen: The Changing Collection, 18 December 2015 – 19 June 2016)
Collection
Wayne Youle ALONE TIME
An obsessively ordered, subversively witty re-imagining of Wayne Youle’s studio, ALONE TIME also evokes a more abstract space: the creative sanctuary any artist must carve out from everyday life for the serious business of making art. A bunker, a tree-house, a ‘room of one’s own’, it’s full to bursting with references to the humour, self-doubt and daily work ethic required to build and sustain an artistic practice – not to mention the magic wand.
(Unseen: The Changing Collection, 18 December 2015 – 19 June 2016)