Nau mai, haere mai, welcome to EyeContact. You are invited to respond to reviews and contribute to discussion by registering to participate.

JH

Kregar’s Te Tuhi Foyer Installation

AA
View Discussion
Gregor Kregar's Dream House Project at Te Tuhi Gregor Kregar's Dream House Project at Te Tuhi Gregor Kregar's Dream House Project at Te Tuhi Gregor Kregar's Dream House Project at Te Tuhi Gregor Kregar's Dream House Project at Te Tuhi with drawings from Elm Park Primary School Gregor Kregar's Dream House Project with drawings from Elm Park Primary School. Drawings from Elm Park Primary School at Te Tuhi. Paper sculptures from Elm Park Primary School. Paper sculptures from Elm Park Primary School.

The fact that this is indoors introduces a slightly shocking aspect. We rarely experience architectural disorder inside when buildings are functioning properly and engineered soundly because we are used to the ‘safe' stability of horizontal and perpendicular lines. Experiencing jumbled tumbling chunks of plank in a curved space just above head-height is disorienting. We worry about crashing into something.

Auckland

 

Gregor Kregar
Dream House Project

 

28 April - 28 October 2012

Gregor Kregar is probably best known for his ceramic sheep and geometric wall sculptures with shiny metallic triangular surfaces. Recently he spent two weeks running a workshop for 300 pupils at Elm Park Primary School and the drawings and folded paper sculptures the children made when considering their own ‘Dream House Project’ are on show in one of Te Tuhi galleries.

This interaction was valuable because it sowed seeds for Kregar’s own installation in the main foyer gallery (the large space between the cafe and the offices just inside the entrance) an improvised work constructed from scrap timber found in a huge mound at the dump, offcuts he eventually transformed into a wooden ‘dwelling’ like three igloo-shaped huts butted together.

Inside, with its fanning arched columns and curved ceilings, it is oddly reminiscent of late Gothic cathedrals. In a vague, sort of stunted way, because this low construction is assembled with just nails - with the wooden batons and bits of floorboards spread apart. There are lots of gaps so the extemporaneous architecture becomes porous, like a kind of net that lets the dappled light and some air through. It is not a functioning shelter but a darkened cavelike space for contemplation, a tree hut you don’t have to climb up into. From a distance and back it looks like a huge striding animal.

In its construction Kregar’s installation is a lovely combination of regimented control and chaos. Structurally it is rock solid while also appearing extremely casual. It is firmly attached to the walls of the Te Tuhi building and so one wonders if Kregar did an outdoors version in a field, how different might it be? If abandoned to the forces of nature, how might winding plants, nesting birds and the occasional rodent transform it?

The fact that this is indoors introduces a slightly shocking aspect. We rarely experience architectural disorder inside when buildings are functioning properly and engineered soundly because we are used to the ‘safe’ stability of horizontal and perpendicular lines. Experiencing jumbled tumbling chunks of plank in a curved space just above head-height is disorienting. We worry about crashing into something.

In my view this show presents Kregar at his best. It is miles more interesting than his dealer gallery shows. He is far better thinking holistically about a spatial intervention than making smaller discrete sculptures. Here he spontaneously deals with arising structural opportunities by using an organic relaxed style. Inviting artists like him to do things in such a public and busy entrance is for a Te Tuhi a bold gamble. If the results are regularly as successful as this, long may it continue.

John Hurrell

Print | Facebook | Twitter | Email

 

Recent Posts by John Hurrell

JH
John B Turner:  Paul Hartigan and Ron Brownson visiting the exhibition of my work at the Bowerbank Ninow Gallery, 10 Lorne Street, Auckland CBD, 30 January 2020

A Thorough Look at Archiving Photographs

Auckland


John B. Turner


New Zealand’s Photo Treasures Heading For the Tip?

JH
Installation of Jonny Niesche's 'You Say Sfumato, and I Say Sfumato', at Starkwhite, Auckland.

Immersive Hazes & Flickering Horizons

STARKWHITE

Auckland

 

Jonny Niesche
You say Sfumato, I say Sfumato



12 May 2023 - 10 July 2023

JH
Brent Harris, The Other Side, curated by Jane Devery, as installed at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.

Pop Art with Trauma

AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TAMAKI

Auckland

 

Brent Harris
The Other Side


6 May 2023 - 17 September 2023

JH
Colonial Road, installation view, Pah Homestead, Auckland. Photo: Arekahānara

Mokopōpaki Trio on Birkenhead History and Ornithology

Pah Homestead (AV Gallery, Little Gallery, Conservatory)

Auckland

 

A.A.M. Bos, Carole Prentice, Dr P
Colonial Road

 

20 April - 2 July 2023