Russel Beck, Percussion Piece, Date Unknown. Collection of The Dowse Art Museum, Purchased 1986.
“Ladders? Well they suggest they get you up, but they don't necessarily get you anywhere.”
– Don Driver, 1978
What does a ladder going nowhere have in common with a bronze lemon tree or a fake rock? Taking its title from Christine Hellyar’s sculpture, the works in Thought Cupboard reward closer inspection. Using unusual and unexpected materials, they encourage new connections and interpretations.
Each of these artworks focuses on transience and curiosities. Kate Newby often places her works in specific sites for a short period of time, rarely explaining what they’re doing there. The delicate yellow wind chime of And I’m not going to waste this was hung in a New York park, while Moods – a huge flag shouting a vague statement – flew from a flagpole in central Christchurch.
Richard Maloy’s Red Dress shows the artist posing before a caravan, holding up a handmade cover. Neither useful nor weathertight, it sags and slumps in comic failure. Dane Mitchell’s Present Surface of Tell appears to be a long-lost archaeological find, but on closer inspection is revealed to be a ruined slide projector. Like the remains of an ancient settlement, this out-dated piece of technology has been left in the dust.
False archaeology is also found in Christine Hellyar’s cupboard of mysterious objects. Made from natural materials, the feathers, animal fur, and lichen contrast smooth with rough; vulnerability with violence. The swooping slate column in Andrew Drummond’s On The Mat is part shadow, part shelter. Like Don Driver’s Ladder, its purpose is ambiguous, but in Thought Cupboard, nothing is quite what it seems.
Thought Cupboard comprises works from The Dowse Collection and two long term loans.