Gavin Hipkins, Detail from The Next Cabin, 2000 - 2002. Courtesy of The Artist.
New Zealand artist Gavin Hipkin’s survey exhibition The Domain opens at The Dowse on Saturday 25 November.
Between 4 November and 25 November we are presenting a special preview of the full exhibition—an installation of the 40-part series The Next Cabin (2000-2002).
Hipkins made The Next Cabin while he was undertaking a Master of Arts degree at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Wanting to take on “one sustainable, heavyweight project” while living in North America, Hipkins settled on this series documenting the Pacific Northwest region.
Partly a homage to a breakaway nation state, partly a riff on touristic cliches, The Next Cabin mixes symbols of frontier life, like the log cabin and a path through snowy woods, with surrealist jolts, like the coffin-shaped marker dedicated to 'Blinky' and a menancing faceless fur-trimmed anorak.
About Gavin Hipkins: The Domain
Gavin Hipkins (born 1968) is a New Zealand photographer known for the remarkable range of his practice, both in terms of the subjects he tackles and the photographic formats he uses.
The Next Cabin is a taster for Hipkins' survey exhibition The Domain, which opens on Saturday 25 November. The Domain will fill all the ground floor galleries at The Dowse. It spans 25 years of art-making, from experimental art school works to the current day. The Domain will include rarely-seen works alongside significant installations and films, including The Field, The Colony, The Habitat, The Homely, and This Fine Island.