B.
Puzzling
Behind the scenes
During our recent collection shift - in which all of the Gallery's treasures were returned to their rightful, refurbished homes, we took the opportunity to assemble and photograph a work which has made its way into our collection post quake.
Michael Eaton's four irregularly shaped canvasses proved quite the challenge to work out their actual configuration. Like a giant puzzle, the butting of sides, intersecting of lines, and use of negative space led us down many a garden path.
![Michael Eaton Untitled mural 1974. Acrylic on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o waiwhetū, gifted to the Gallery by Orica Chemnet, New Zealand Ltd, 2011](/media/cache/ed/c5/edc502819677c00a4ab696d8423cd7ea.jpg)
Michael Eaton Untitled mural 1974. Acrylic on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o waiwhetū, gifted to the Gallery by Orica Chemnet, New Zealand Ltd, 2011
![Michael Eaton Untitled mural 1974. Acrylic on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o waiwhetū, gifted to the Gallery by Orica Chemnet, New Zealand Ltd, 2011](/media/cache/c7/38/c738a5dd64e0eed5ae2c8da5507bfd78.jpg)
Michael Eaton Untitled mural 1974. Acrylic on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o waiwhetū, gifted to the Gallery by Orica Chemnet, New Zealand Ltd, 2011
We photographed the individual parts and turned them into miniature puzzle pieces to avoid having to man-handle the large paintings. After much head-scratching, chin-stroking, peer-persuasion and general debate, eventually we thought we had solved it, only to have a registrar unearth an archival photograph that disproved our revised layout. Anyway, below is the correct version: we hope to show it to you on an actual gallery wall some day.
![Michael Eaton Untitled mural 1974. Acrylic on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o waiwhetū, gifted to the Gallery by Orica Chemnet, New Zealand Ltd, 2011](/media/cache/9c/89/9c89b2c747904fc47798e0aa6d1b96ea.jpg)
Michael Eaton Untitled mural 1974. Acrylic on board. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o waiwhetū, gifted to the Gallery by Orica Chemnet, New Zealand Ltd, 2011