Weekend Herald

Art of the Week

TJ McNamara

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In his exhibition of sculpture combining birds and kowhai flowers, Paul Dibble has concentrat­ed on the huia, once prized for its white-tipped tail feathers but since driven to extinction. Yet, in the permanence of bronze Dibble concentrat­es on other features including characteri­stic body shape, legs, tail and, particular­ly, the long, curved beak. From the tall, stylised tail of the bird on the ground, through the curve of its body and beak matching that of the bird perching above, he creates a rhythm that gives the piece vitality to match its solidity. The kowhai bloom, hugely over-sized and gilded with gold leaf, not only supports the whole but also makes the work not only an emblem of Aotearoa but also but a memorable, elegiac sculpture.

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