B.

Elegance, sexuality, technology, nature, science fiction, history – the influences on the works in this exhibition are as varied as they are fantastic. They take the senses by storm and leave the intellect craving more. They are fabulous, found-object, fibre-frenetic fun.

Created in 1987 by sculptor Suzie Moncrieff, the Wearable Art Awards have put Nelson on the international cultural map. It is the one icon of Kiwi culture, of Kiwi ingenuity, which can rival rugby (allow me this small exaggeration!) in the passion and attention it provokes.

The Montana New Zealand Wearable Arts is not about high fashion – though many of the works far outstrip the standards of Parisian haut couture in beauty. Neither is it about high art – though some will find the works more palatable in the Art Gallery setting than the most expensive pile of bricks. No! When you pare away the hyperbole it is about having a go... the same ethic that won the Americas Cup... the same belief that beats in every Kiwi heart that I am as good as the next person and, given the diminished value of the New Zealand dollar, a whole lot more imaginative and resourceful than most.

A youthful passion for the Jetsons grows into adulthood; an unaccountable excess of Telecom handsets or CD discs; a West Coast passion for driftwood and natural fibres; the brazen, brutal femininity of Zena – weird and diverse are the fuels that fire the passions of these designers. Dried sausage skins, paua shells, car parts, flax and plastic are de rigeur. The unforgettable papier mache creations of Donna Demente guarantee her immortality – who would have dreamed that this humble material, shaped by many of us in childhood around balloons (for some long, and thankfully, forgotten purpose), could be so successfully moulded in evocative, dreamlike beauty.

The exhibition has evolved over two years. Brought to the public first by Te Papa as Off The Body and Onto The Wall, the exhibition benefited from the addition of some of the more spectacular pieces from the 1998 Awards when it opened last summer at Auckland Museum. The exhibition when it arrives in Christchurch from Dunedin will be enormously enhanced by the addition of three new works from the recent 1999 Awards. One of these - Superminx, a fantastic, feline creation of twin animated thrones made of possum fur, velvet, lycra and plywood, will be on show by special and exclusive arrangement for the opening days of the exhibition only.

The exhibition, to be opened by Suzie Moncrieff, will be a multi-media, son-et-lumiere spectacular. For anyone who has seen Craig Potton's book, Wearable Art, Design for the Body, the exhibition will be an absolute must. For those fortunate few who have attended one or more of the Awards shows, this exhibition will be a breathtaking overview of these annual Nelson events. For everyone else (who knows?) the exhibition may in time become a cherished memory. In today's world even Todd Blackadder can only see it in Nelson, like every other Kiwi. In tomorrow's world Montana New Zealand Wearable Arts Awards, conqueror of this global culture, may become an international event on the scale of Mardi Gras.

Ronnie Kelly

This exhibition was held at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in the Botanic Gardens.