Richard Orjis was commissioned to develop new work for the inaugural exhibition in the new public art Bledisloe Walkway Lightboxes and he created "Park," a set of five luxurious images for the walkway.
"Park" featured five photographs depicting an opulent fantasy world. One image showed jewel-encrusted robots seated majestically in a bed; other images suggested an artificial garden teeming with spring flowers, rising dough and plastic bones, and dotted with candles. By these means Orjis conjured up a world where nature looks beautiful, pure and intrinsically good, but at the same time appears dangerous, decadent and destructive.
The Bledisloe Walkway Light Boxes are an outdoor exhibition space in the heart of Auckland city. The light boxes offer artists, curators and arts organisations the opportunity to exhibit in a format for presenting image-based art works in a high-profile location.
The light boxes are situated in the Bledisloe Walkway, which runs between Aotea Square and Wellesley Street. Between four and six exhibitions featuring the work of both individual artists, and curated group exhibitions are commissioned by Auckland Council’s Public Art Team each year.
Inaugural artist: Richard Orjis (NZ)
Title: "Park" 2010
Duration: 17 July-25 October 2010
Curator: Rob Garrett
Location: Bledisloe Walkway, between Wellesley Street West and Aotea Square, Auckland
Commissioner: Auckland Council Public Art Team
Images: Courtesy of Melanie Roger Gallery
Daniel Crooks' Bledisloe Walkway Lightboxes exhibition "Crossings" was co-curated by Ariane Craig-Smith for the Auckland Festival and Rob Garrett for the Auckland Council public art programme.
Project Statement:
In this 24/7 exhibition, trams, trains, elevators and city pedestrians in motion are common features in the intriguing works produced by Melbourne-based photographer and digital media and installation artist Daniel Crooks. Crooks breaks down the conventional relationship between time and space by splicing different moments into one image, prompting a reconsideration of one’s own motion and movement.
Crooks’ work for the Bledisloe Walkway Light Boxes presents detailed images of people in their own surroundings, blurring the line between stillness and movement to encourage reflections on the nature of public space and how people move and interact in it. Fashioned to fit the walkway site the work prompts audiences to and consider their own passage in time and space.
Artist: Daniel Crooks (AU)
Title: "Crossings" 2011
Curators: Ariane Craig-Smith and Rob Garrett
Duration: 28 February-28 April 2011
Location: Bledisloe Walkway, between Wellesley Street West and Aotea Square, Auckland
Commissioners: Auckland Festival and Auckland Council Public Art Team
Artworks: Duratran, 184 x 100cm, courtesy of the Artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery