Sunset from my balcony 9.15pm 31st Jan 2007
(click to enlarge)

Wrestlers 2003

This photo is a close-up of a marble copy of a Greek statue. I don't know where the original is, but this copy is one of two that are in NZ. One is in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and this one is in the Sarjeant Gallery in Wanganui.
I was pleased with this image, and printed it up an edition which I released onto the market. Some viewers were a little puzzled by the figures in the photo, being unsure whether they were real or not. One person even asked me which one was me! Unfortunately I think that he was joking.

A few weeks ago I was looking at the interior of the main Catholic Church here in New Plymouth, and was impressed by the concrete bas-relief Stations of the Cross that Michael Smither made some years ago. Again I was interested to see some sculpture based on the human figure.


The 14 Stations of the Cross are a compulsory part of every Catholic Church in this country and having had a strict Catholic upbringing (although now I'm an atheist) I was exposed to many sets of them. Coming from a family and a culture which was not strong on the visual arts to put it mildly, they made a big impression on me. Almost all the art that I saw was religious. Although I was fortunate enough to have regular exposure to Life magazine, which at that time regularly published photographic essays by top photographers such as Edward Steichen, Lee Miller, Dorothea Lange, and Margaret Bourke-White.

Generally the Stations of the Cross were, in art terms, just plain awful, even kitsch. Hence it was a relief to walk into St Joseph's here in New Plymouth and see Stations that had some force and sincerity to them.

Christianity is, in global terms, an unusual religion in that it worships a mutilated god. I remember, in a television series made by English historian Bamber Gascoigne, and called The Christians, him saying that it is the only religion in the world to do so. I often wonder what psychological effect all the Christian art that I was exposed to had on me as a child, and ask myself if it still does affect me in some ways. I was brought up on the lives of the saints. I particularly remember one who had her hat nailed to her head. Flagellation was normal, we even drank blood and ate flesh during Mass. Keep in mind that many Roman Catholics believe that via transubstantiation, the Mass literally transforms bread and wine into the flesh and blood of Christ. The Mass is a cannibalistic ceremony.

I fervently believed and practised these ideas, even in my early 20's I wanted to be a priest. My middle name is Chanel, hence I am Peter Chanel, named after the only Catholic saint to have ever lived in this country. He died in 1841, on Futuna, in the Fiji group of islands, clubbed to death by some of the indigenous people who did not like his ideas. I used to adhere to the orthodox Catholic belief that matyrdom such as this was a shortcut to 'heaven'.

Octopus 1985

Fish shops as inspiration.

For the second time in a month, I have been inspired by something that I have seen in a fish shop. A new business, recently opened in New Plymouth, is selling fish caught by their own boat, and sold straight to the public. Most days their boat arrives at around 2 pm.

Today, while there to buy a whole fish for a BBQ tonight, I noticed that they had an octopus for sale. It had been arranged so that one of its eyes was in the the middle, looking straight at customers.

I felt some sorrow for the creature, finding it hard not to think of how it must have died in fear. All the same I felt that if I was to have clear access to it, unlike the above snap, which I had to take through curved glass, there could be a photo there. Octopus eyes are not like fish eyes. They look full of intelligence.

So I need to, perhaps buy a whole octopus, arrange it myself, and see if I can do a much improved version of the above image. Or maybe I could pay the shop to give me freer access to it. I'm not sure.

The previous inspiration was in seeing a some frozen crustaceans with the magnificent name of Moreton Bay Bugs. They reminded me of fossils, and of the something from the movie Alien. Unfortunately, the ones that I saw were on Waiheke Island in Auckland and I've not been able to find any more since then, even going to biggest fish shops in Auckland.

Later in the year I have to go to Brisbane, where these animals, which look like a crayfish that have been through wringer, are a big delicacy. That could be my chance. They could even help pay for my trip. Below is a photo of one. The image that I am after would be in b & w to emphasise the fossil look. I am also much more interested in the underview because of the strange legs. This image shows very little of the possibilities that I saw.

More Bones


More bones from the anatomy book mentioned in the previous posting. (see below)
Drawn by William Cheselden (1688 -1752), interestingly, a camera obscura was used, this being just before the simultaneous discovery by a number of individuals of ways of fixing the image onto paper. It is interesting that modern photography was, in part, invented by chemists. I like this relationship between photography and science. Someone once said that photography has a science father and an art mother.

Hands and feet are subjects that I have returned to many times in my work, don't ask me why, I don't know. Below is a photo called Thea's Hand. I made this photo in 1997 when I was artist-in-residence at Canterbury University.

The daughter of some friends, I wanted to photograph Thea's hands but was not sure how to compose the image. Her parents, however had a marble topped table, and quite spontaneously, I decided to have her place her hand on it, and then to place her left hand on top of mine. This enabled me to use the camera with my right hand.

Christchurch at that time was in ferment because of the Civic Creche sex abuse case, where several individuals were arrested and charged with multiple sex crimes against children enrolled there. It was one of those cases that at that time had become common throughout the Western world, generated largely by fundamentalist Christians, and, amazingly, feminist gender politics. Charges of the ritual abuse of children were placed, all of them based entirely on children's testimony, much of it recalled under repeated questioning by 'counsellors'.

When I first arrived to take up my residency I was asked what I wanted to photograph. I replied that, most of all, I wanted to photograph the famous toilets of the closed down creche, where much of the alleged abuse took place. This request did not go down well so I rapidly gave up on that idea.

Generally, I would say that my work is not political, but sometimes I wonder if the photo that I took of Thea's hand is in some way a response to what was taking place in Christchurch. A healing I would like to think.

Dem Bones.

One 0f the greatest advantages of living in New Plymouth is that it has an excellent library. Every Tuesday morning the latest acquisitions are put out on special shelves, for a week, for us to browse through before the books become available for borrowing. Usually there are about 30 books there, and usually I reserve at least one, more commonly 2 or 3, sometimes even 4.

Having a library of this quality gives me a steady flow of new books, on a variety of subjects and one of the latest that came my way is one called Human Anatomy, Depicting the Body from the Rennaissance to Today. There were many illustrations that caught my attention but one that did so especially was of a child's skeleton, the child holding an adult femur.

I would like to photograph a baby's hand holding a large bone, as in the photo below. The baby's hand would be with flesh and, in Auckland, I have access to a suitable candidate. In New Plymouth I have access to some suitable bones. What it requires is for me to put these together, against a plain background.

Ciphers & Constellations in Love with a Woman 1941

Miro

On thinking about the photo of the bird paperworks made by children, that I took on Saturday, and other works, see previous blog, I am reminded of the work of Miro.

In the late 90's I had a month in Barcelona and while there I saw a joint exhibition of Joan Miro and Alexander Calder. They were close friends for a long time. Calder used to travel to Barcelona to visit Miro. It was not until I saw these Miro works that I realised just how good he was as an artist and it made a big impact on me. Now I seem to have picked up some of their flavour in my own images although I don't know whether influence is the right word.

His work encouraged me partly because the older he got the better his work became.. When you reach my age, observations like that become important! At the same time when I look at his work now, always in reproduction of course, I have never seen one in NZ, I also feel that it is so good that I also feel slightly discouraged. How could I ever reach that level I feel. Still I have to put that aside and keep striving.

Yesterday I travelled to Wanganui with three friends. From New Plymouth it is
2 hours by road, although yesterday's journey was made particularly pleasant because I was being chauffered by a friend Grant Kerr in his powerful smooth Audi A6, with black leather seats.

We were going in particular, because Grant the driver, was wanting to see an exhibition of my photographs that I have there and I decided to accompany him even though I had seen all the works before. (many times)

The exhibition is at Paul McNamara's gallery in some rooms that were once his surgery, when he was a medical practioner. I like the ambience that still exists in the spaces, I think of all the injections that must have been given there, all the internal examinations, and all the sad news that must have been broken to patients.

Because my exhibition has been on since the beginning of December, and I had more works than could accomodated in one show, Dr Paul has been changing some of the images every couple of weeks. On this visit it was the first time that I had seen this particular rotation.

Paul Craig, framer par excellence, from Wellington, made us a frame enabling us to change large images at will, with great ease. Yesterday was the first time that I had seen the above large image, in a frame ever, and it's over a year old.

After Matisse, as I call it, was the result of months of work. I had bought a packet of these rubbery shapes at a toy store over a period of several months, kept rearranging the spaces.

When I saw this photo yesterday. in its Paul Craig frame, beautifully lit, on a wall painted in an soft colour, I was almost shocked. I had forgotten how much I liked it. In over a year I have not managed to sell a single print of it, which had, I suppose, made me lose some faith.

After leaving there we moved on to the Sarjeant Gallery, a civic gallery that at one time had the deserved reputation of being one of the most important galleries in New Zealand. No longer alas. However, one of the exhibitions that they had on there was one about birds, a show originated by Pataka Porirua, another civic gallery about 20 minutes drive north of Wellington. I have a few photos in this show and it was good to see these but what really struck me was an area where those in the gallery who were involved in education had been working with children on the theme of 'birds'. On a wall were these creations. I took a snap with my camphone. I like the result. It dances.

A dead cat seen on my walk this morning. Luckily I had my trusty camphone on me,
on this occasion using it to listen to music via some headphones. It can work as an an MP3 player.

(click on the column above and it will come up in a larger, more readable form.)

State of the Visual Arts in New Zealand.

The above was published in the Listener in the week before Christmas. Written by Aaron Kreisler, it is one of the first published pieces in a long time, that I have read that discusses the state of the visual arts in NZ. On a meta level, asking questions about what is really going on. It even raises a question about the quality of curators in this country, a question rarely whispered, let alone put on a page. I commend him for his courage. He gives me much needed heart especially as what I see in the art world in NZ is demoralising me, more seriously than in the 30 years that art has been my life. Today it gave me great pleasure to be able to thank Aaron in person.

Lego.

I've been interested in photographing Lego for some years, even going to Legoland in Denmark where I took this photo of a lifesized Lego donkey. I enjoyed the way that it appeared to be digitalised.
An internet friend sent me this link to a site showing how visitors were allowed to play with 3 tonnes of white lego. Recently in Brisbane, in the art gallery, the same project was run.

Home Again- Aim Low In Future

I apologise for the delay between postings. In Auckland so much seemed to happen, far more that I had planned. I realise now that the list of objectives I took there with me was just too too long. It created expectations that left no room for the extras which came my way, so many of which, as usual, turned out to be so important.

I hadn't even left room for the weather for example, which at times was monsoon like, warm, heavy, giant heavy drops, and quite wonderful, except when you are wanting to criss-cross Auckland's ever changing roads in a car that you have never driven before.

And I hadn't left room for being in cafes and, lo and behold, there was someone that I hadn't seen for years, but was delighted and nourished by reconnecting with them.

The lesson for me is to aim low. My parents, my teachers, and my priests, all said the same thing: aim high. It was an approach hardwired into me over the decades. In recent years though I've seen just how it hasn't, as an aphorism, got it quite right. If you let go you leave space for things to happen. I got it wrong on this trip, I tried to do too much, and as a result, my time became rushed and crowded. My blogging suffered and I am sorry about that. It's vital to defrag. Today, and probably tomorrow as well I'm paying the price.

Auckland Again.

I'm back in Auckland for a week, housesitting for friends while they're in Sydney. It's a chance to spend a few days here, enjoying the valuables this city has to offer. And of course, most importantly look for a new photograph.

This home uses a Mac which I've never used before. I've only used PC's. It's taken me a few hours to find my way around the controls of this Mac, and that is only the tiniest start. My impression is that the Mac is silky, and relaxing.

On Monday I went to see a tailor, Gus McKay about having a suit made for me. I cannot remember when I last owned a suit but it must be at least 30 years. I know I got married in one, and then I would have been in my early 20's and I was born in 1941!

Gus, is the brother of Wellington art dealer Hamish McKay. Serendipitously, Gus works out of my old studio on the 6th floor of Lister Building, where I was for several years in the early 90's. After Rembrandt was printed there. My darkroom is now a luxurious bathroom. Lister Building, right in the middle of town, is in Victoria Street opposite the Victoria Street Carpark, 50 steps from Queen Street, the plumb centre of the CBD. After the economic slump post 1987 CBD rents , it almost not to strong to put it this way... collapsed. Lister Building was one of the sites to which we congregated. Karen Walker was on floor above, Greg Gibb my dentist was opposite. Over the years that is where I had many fillings, crowns, partials.
All propping up my snaggle teeth. No matter how much I took care of them, it just seems that they were genetically soft.

On the bookcase here, where I am housesitting for Julian Dashper and Marie Shannon, there is a little volume called Strangeland, by Tracey Emin. I was encouraged when I saw how openly Tracey Emin spoke about her dental work eg her crumbling front teeth.

In my Taranaki computer I have a photo of Lister Building. On Monday I'll be able to show it to you. It's one of the most intact Chicago Style buildings in Auckland, although at present, painted in the way that it is, you would scarcely recognise it.

Sculpture-Hamish McKay Gallery.
Here is a sculpture that I exhibited at Hamish's about 10 years ago. The blue was the paint left over from my Herald Island house which was the colour of the Tongan Royal Family. The previous owner had been part of that family, Queen Salote used to visit in her black Cadillac but not while I lived there.

Since then I have used this blue a couple of times since. Most recently on my New Plymouth house although I have changed it slightly, now I use Resene Tranquil. My house and studio is now entirely painted in Tranquil, there are no other colours at all apart from the white ceilings. Certainly there are no window frames picked out.

Studio View.
A section of my studio. The toy crane in the foreground I bought at least 10 years ago. Many times I've tried to photograph it. The green object behind is a section of poenamu, commonly in New Zealand, called greenstone, although found around the world and generally called jade. Notice the whitish crust that stones of pounamu often have. I bought this piece from an eldery man here in New Plymouth, with the aim of one day making some of my own jewellery. So far the only jewellery that I have made has been been from Fimo.

The two dark objects on either side of the pounamu are ventifacts. Old rocks shaped by the wind. There is a field of these in Taranaki although taking of the rocks is strictly forbidden. Both of these ventifacts were bought from collectors. Again, I have these with the aim of photographing them but so far no luck.

Crown Knot.
Six or seven years ago I seemed to become especially interested in photographing knots. Not only when I was a boy, but later, when working on trucks, I learnt to admire and respect these intriguing yet supremely functional creations. In my teens I worked on the Auckland wharves as a 'seagull' the name then used for casual wharf labour. There is no casual wharf labour now. This was before containers, heavy, awkward, sacks of cement were unloaded by passing from one man to the next. It was physical, well paid, and because of the repetitive lifting, as a bonus, very bodybuilding. There was also a cachet to the occupation, it was an age of Kerouac & Camus. And it gave you time to read. Others were doing it as well. Although It was low fees at university and a time when it was relatively easy to try out papers. In trying-out-ed-ness, I did my best. I regret none, not Annie Shepherd's lectures on Old English or the microscope study and appendant drawings that I enjoyed, every week, in Botany& Zoology. The microscope was an excellent introduction to the camera. When I look back on my life I feel very fortunate to have met good teachers, teachers who were bigger than their subjects. Not often, but often enough to make a big difference. Paul Ohms did that for me, in Biology, at Takapuna Grammar.
I was a lab boy then. Setting out, in our break time but paid all the same, the experiments for the next class eg the dissection of the reproductive system of the earthworm.

Denis Cohn

Denis was my art dealer in Auckland. He sold Les & Milly Paris the first photographs
that they ever bought. They later went on to build a collection that included around 50 of my images.

What I notice about Denis is that everyone always speaks well of him. He seems to have no enemies. He was a gentleman, and a good person to be in business with. I am sad that he is no longer here.

Note. Clicking on the obituary by Hamish Keith, above, should enlarge it to more readable proportions.