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Lie of the Land - A Touring Exhibition of Stone Sculptures in 1998 Artist Statement The exhibition LIE OF THE LAND will be comprised of 8-12 stone sculptures of approximately human proportions. In this exhibition of stone sculpture I want to explore how real and imaginary concepts of "the land" have become embedded into our culture and have taken on the power of icons, influencing our behaviour, our identity, and the very way that we present ourselves to the world. In New Zealand issues such as cultural identity, material and spiritual sovereignty are of crucial importance to the future of our society, and my sculptures will present some visual responses to these matters. I want to use this exhibition to consider and examine visual metaphors for conformity, nationalism, sovereignty, and patriotism, and the way that these are generated and instilled in the population. How is the fiction of a stable national identity is created? The fragmentation of society is requiring a far deeper understanding of national identity and allegiance than the concept of the nation-state can accommodate. I am interested in the image of "the land" in New Zealand culture. How is it expressed through art? How is it expressed in sport? In war? We acknowledge the land as material and spiritual body. In what ways are our images and concepts of "the land" false? Is the land truly a sacrament. A taonga. Or is it a sacrifice? Can we expect all New Zealanders to have this regard? Does the land truly nurture us, or is that an outmoded myth. CONCEPTS Land as symbol I would like to examine the meanings of flag. National Identity. Allegiance to the crown. Marching under the flag, the banner. Burning and walking on the flag. The (false) nationalistic ideologies of motherland, fatherland, facism, patriotism. The sculptures in LIE OF THE LAND will be a continuation of the work that I have been making since 1991. First shown in MAKING AMENDS, ON FORM and CROSS COUNTRY these sculptures in granite and marble have explored through material and process concepts such as: SECTION, DIVIDE, REPAIR, CONFORM. Cross Country, Cross-section, Dissection, Division, Cross, The cardinal points, West to East, North to South, Travelling, Souvenir, Longing, Memory, Destruction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Restoration, Reparation. Threads, the red thread runs between the black and the white. Flags, flag stones, prayers, prayer stones. The exhibition CROSS COUNTRY is comprised of new works on the theme of the land divided and reunited. This follows on from the concepts of MAKING AMENDS that considered the way we interact with the land materially and spiritually. By using my materials (which are themselves part of the land) as analogies for the land, I can explore aspects of myth, lore, preconception and delusion. I can compare the idealised 'land' with the reality. With the black and white works of CROSS COUNTRY I am attempting to bring together the opposites, the incongruous, so that in their conformation the two become one, while still retaining their separate integrity. The oneness of duality. Two into one. The confluence of the incongruous. The solutions are almost entirely analogue responses arising out of the unique set of parameters that I set myself as a brief for the exhibition. However, the final three works in the series have suddenly produced a digital response in strong contrast to the analogy representations and this is clearly the direction that LIE OF THE LAND will take. In LIE OF THE LAND the seamless convergence and absolute conformation are peturbed and the become a broken and angry confrontation. DEFINITIONS Lie (la=), n.2 Also 7 lye. [f. lie v.1] Conform(v): fit or be suitable; comply with rules or general customs. John Edgar |