Huia Construction, 2015 2850 mm x 2200 mm x 460 mm Edition of 2 Bronze and Corten steel $60,000
Huia Construction, 2015 (detail)
I am a Heron, 2014 2100 mm x 700 mm x 580 mm Cast patinated bronze Edition of 2 $88,000
I am a Heron, 2014 (detail)
Tui With Kowhai, 2015 840 mm x 420 mm x 200 mm Cast bronze and 24 carat gold Edition of 2 $26,000
The Godwits Arrive 2014, 2/2 640 mm x 330 mm x 250 mm Cast patinated bronze $16,500
The Godwits Arrive 2014, 2/2 (detail)
Waitakaruru: Where the Owl Sits on the Water, 2015 570 mm x 300 mm x 180 mm Cast patinated bronze Single edition $14,000
Parked Up, 2014 500 mm x 330 mm x 140 mm, Cast patinated bronze Single edition $8,500
The English Arrive, 2014 483 mm x 490 mm x 120 mm Cast patinated bronze Single edition $14,000
Rabbit Fights Back model, 2015 390 mm x 400 mm x 100 mm Cast patinated bronze 3/5 edition of 5 $6,000
The Fishing Trip, 2014 500 mm x 330 mm x 140 mm Cast patinated bronze Single edition $7,500
Flock model, 2014 700 mm x 240 mm x 180 mm Cast patinated bronze Single edition $12,000
Dog and Wildlife, 2014 485 mm x 280 mm x 125 mm Cast patinated bronze Edition of 2 $9,500
The Farmer Looks Ahead, 2014 350 mm x 400 mm x 140 mm Cast patinated bronze Edition of 2 $12,000
Tui, 2014 460 mm x 200 mm x 130 mm Cast patinated bronze Edition of 5 $8,200
The Gold of the Kowhai model, 2015 500 mm x 230 mm x 150 mm, Cast bronze and 24 carat gold 2/10, edition of 10 $14,500
Good Night Kiwi, 2014 370 mm x 265 mm x 130 mm Cast patinated bronze Edition of 3 $9,500
Kiwi and Foliage, 2015 470 mm x 175 mm x 115 mm Cast patinated bronze Single edition $9,500
Rabbit Rhythms, 2014 450 mm x 260 mm x 150 mm Cast patinated bronze Edition of 2 $6,500
New Zealand Fern in an Urn, 2015 500 mm x 220 mm x 130 mm Cast patinated bronze Single edition $7,500
Paul Dibble On the Road Again 27 October – 20 November 2015 Artist’s reception: Tuesday 27
October 5:30pm – 7:00pm
They could be thought of as a row of sculptural “snapshots”, held moments, a sequential row of visual images, ideas or musings by the artist – these are the tableaux created by Paul Dibble. This is a name given to a method of working, making works which are individual pieces yet part of a whole. The imagery suggest an interest in the peculiarities, odd instances and nostalgic trips back - a colonial gentleman walking past a tree of birds perhaps a new English immigrant where the colony of natives are laughing at his hat; a car beside an ancient forest; the ubiquitous kiwi beer bottle, now seeming something of a relic with a tui perched on its top; another native, now a fantail resting on its relic of an unusual mask and dispersing of rabbits, one of our most hated of residents, anthropomorphised into performing human tricks. This isn’t Dibble’s first use of the tableaux. They go back to 2002 when the first played out the story of the town of Waitakaruru where the artist was born and raised. Then followed a part historic study of New Zealand and its artefacts (2003) and a road trip of Australia (again in 2003 designed for exhibition in Sydney) seen through a New Zealanders eyes. But whether the imagery is kangaroo and bottle trees, the scenes of Captain Cook and Banks on their travels around the Firth of Thames or more random scenes, the formal aesthetics are the same. As a series of individual studies they must meld into a full work, a game of juxtaposition linking the massive against the fine and linear, curves against straight, and the repeats of horizontal with diagonals and shaping to give interest. Standing out, in the same way that the flowers themselves are prominent in a crowded dark New Zealand forest, is a golden kowhai, like a tucked away treasure. The petals have been gilded in gold, making real the phrase that statesman William Pember-Reeves coined when he referred to their colour as “the gold of the kowhai”. There are larger works as part of the exhibition. In I am a Heron a bird-man hides behind a female mask. A Corten geometric stand with its oxidised orange-brown becomes a perching site for New Zealand birds. As an exhibition it lies in a land between memories and imaginings, but in a country that is definitely the artist’s own. Fran Dibble, 2015