Exhibition takes a look behind the scenes
Artworks that have been kept in storage – some for nearly 40 years – are becoming the main feature at a New Plymouth gallery’s latest show, and visitors can watch as it is put together.
Work in Progress, which is running at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, involves staff taking work from out of the backroom and putting it on display.
The exhibition, which runs until September 7, lets visitors see registrars, art handlers, curators and photographers at work as they prepare pieces for exhibition.
The collection includes nine, large-scale un-stretched canvases painted by Len Lye in the last years of his life.
These were last displayed together 37 years ago and will be shown at the gallery for the first time in December.
Exhibits at the museum change every four months before the space is transformed again, museum director Simon Rees said.
‘‘Just about all the world’s museums have almost too much stuff so this is a chance to get it all out.
‘‘There’s way more to setting up an exhibition than just putting a nail in the wall. Nothing is permanent here and this allows people to see what normally happens behind closed doors.’’
Other works that will feature include pieces by New Plymouth artist Don Driver and Maori artist Ralph Hotere
The three-week exhibition will also include speakers, one of whom will be Kararaina Te Ira, the curator of the Taonga Ma¯ori Collection/Poutiaki Taonga at Puke Ariki.
Te Ira has a masters degree in cultural material conservation and has worked at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand Historic Places Trust and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
Last Tuesday, Te Ira showed a group of New Plymouth Girls’ High students how to look after objects that may contain plant or fibre-based materials at home, and she also ran another session on Saturday.
Once Work In Progress ends the gallery space will be cleared out for the All Blacks and the Governor General who will all visit on the September 9 and then a new exhibit called Surface Affect will open on September 23.