Len Lye isn’t NZ’s only artist
As an expatriate New Zealand artist now living in the United Kingdom, with longstanding family connections with New Plymouth, I was interested in Warren Seastrand’s letter published on Wednesday, October 17. He laments actions taken to remove local artists’ work from public view and attacks the ‘‘anonymous, unelected group lurking in the shadows, calling the shots . . .’’
On recent return trips to Taranaki, I have been surprised when visiting the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery to discover how completely it has been taken over by the admirers of one artist, Len Lye, and how the lavish presentation of his work has eclipsed all other artistic viewpoints (apart from the showing of videos, often by his acolytes).
I must admit to being an old friend of Don Driver, who is one of the artists whose work has been banished, and an admirer of his art, so relevant to Taranaki history and culture. I was told when I went to the Govett-Brewster this week that although the gallery has his work in storage and has shown it in the past, none of it is presently to be seen. I would have thought that the wonderful premises of the New Plymouth gallery would have space for a permanent display of their most notable artworks and not be dominated so completely by an overwhelming display of just one artist’s creativity.
Although the emphasis of the gallery has always been on adventurous, ground-breaking art, this can come in many guises, including art which uses the traditional materials of painting, printmaking and sculpture. These all seem an anathema to those ‘‘calling the shots’’.
I should admit to being a painter/printmaker myself and am at present sharing an exhibition in the Fe29 Gallery (http://fe29.com/work/satellitegallery/) in Dunedin with work by two well-known friends now sadly both dead, Don Peebles of Christchurch, and John Drawbridge of Wellington. Both of them were ground-breaking artists though they used the traditional paints, canvas and etching plates (as well as, in Drawbridge’s case, painted aluminium sheets, perspex rods and light effects).
Both of them are artists whose wide talents I would expect to see displayed in any New Zealand gallery worth its name. But on return visits to New Zealand I am always surprised to discover how hard it is to find on show the work of many wonderful artists, while a favoured few are selected for constant exposure. Len Lye is obviously one of these favoured few, but many would say that his reputation is overblown.
Robert Macdonald