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WATCH THIS SPACE

from Avenues, October 2021

by Twenty Seven Publishers

from Avenues, October 2021, page 74

HUMANS OF ŌTAUTAHI

WATCH THIS SPACE

God of the Forest Artist Berst DateNovember 2013 Location Battersea Street, Sydenham

Tucked away in Sydenham, teasingly just out of sight from the traffic passing along the busy Colombo Street, Berst’s epic God of The Forest sprawls across a massive car park wall. Painted in late 2013 for the From the Ground Up festival organised by Jacob Yikes, Holly Ross, and Leeya Warrander, Auckland artist Berst’s intricate design provides a visual feast of flora, faces, beasts, and icons. The earthy tones of ochre, brown, blue, and purple are tied together with graphic black line work and white highlights, creating an impressive impact where elements interlock and weave in and out of each other as if alive. It draws together references to graffiti culture (artist’s names are embedded within the composition) with symbols from the earth, sea, and sky inspired by the artist’s reading of A.W. Reed’s Myths and Legends of Maoriland (1971), God of the Forest is packed with potential narrative threads. The maze-like composition invites inspection, our eyes able to dart in different directions, swallowed by the combination of scale and detail.