2005
Between Ridiculous And Sublime Exhibition, 2005, installation view, cast glass and LED light boxes
Bath Street Gallery, Auckland, NZ
This exhibition brings together what appear to be two very different groups of work; Gnomes and Geometric constructions. They do not appear, at first glance, to have any relationship to one another, yet conceptually and historically their paths cross at many points. All the works in the exhibition are made in glass; a material that was chosen for its unique properties that allow it to exist as both a liquid and a solid at the same time.
Gnomes have a complex history that reaches far beyond Disney cartoons; originating in medieval Europe gnomes were closely associated with the science of alchemy and were the guardians of minerals and metals. I am interested in the transformation of the trivial everyday aesthetic of the gnome.
The gnomes in this exhibition are cast in coloured lead crystal glass and stand upon illuminated light boxes. They are caught in an existence between the happy and helpful gnome and the frozen mystical being. Practising this alchemy of the everyday, the gnomes are turned from the familiar into sublime, the trivial into a precious and valuable, achieving the noble levels of human perception, emotion and appreciation of the world.