Indeed the quality of
the installations is on an obsession rating up there with Billy Apple. And of course it’s artists like Billy
who have prepared the way so that this kind of quality can be expected of
public institutions in presenting work. Not that we imagine it came easy. There
were no doubt tears and a bit of pushing and shoving to get there, but the four
artists (Simon Denny, Alicia Frankovich, Kate Newby and Sriwhana Spong) and the
Auckland Art Gallery have all certainly delivered the goods. A shame the
identity design and marketing collateral seem to come from another planet.
It also turned out
that we were absolutely right when we predicted that the Auckland Art Gallery
would never let Kate Newby ‘pour concrete over their new wooden floors.’ Two
steps inside the gallery space and we discover the floors of the contemporary
art space are some kind of concrete aggregate and not wood at all. Even when
we’re wrong, we’re right. What’s not to love about that?
Image: Kate Newby
carries her Walter’s Prize installation out onto the gallery roof with TRY TRY
