SOURCES: PAUL DIBBLE & FRAN DIBBLE MAHARA GALLERY - runs until 6 DECEMBER 2009
Paul Dibble became well known locally in part because his elegant sculpture, Long Horizon was brazenly stolen from outside Swell Café at Waikanae Beach four years ago. It was later recovered, but in the meantime established him in the local consciousness as someone producing large, stylish bronze works which relate strongly to the Pacific/European mix of culture that has formed a unique New Zealand cultural identity.
Paul also has an international reputation, and was commissioned to produce the New Zealand Memorial for Hyde Park in London, which was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth and New Zealand’s and Britain’s Prime Ministers in November 2006 to mark the enduring relationship between Britain and New Zealand, in particular honouring the sacrifices of war. A special documentary on Paul’s New Zealand Memorial screens during this show.
Mahara Gallery has also reconstructed an orange wall from the Dibble’s home for this exhibition. It appears in this month’s issue of New Zealand Home and Garden, and the handsome new book Villa, but people can come and see the real thing in the gallery.
The wall features an extraordinary collection of Kiwiana and Maoriana which Paul began amassing decades before those terms were coined. He finds this area fascinating:‘When cultures clash, or meet head on, there’s a certain amount of conflict, things rub off. And what comes out of that is some very interesting art. It changed Maori art and created a lot of interesting European art too. I actually think that this is the beginning of our long walk towards nationhood – having our own identity. It was putting things in the mixing pot’.
Fran Dibble has an unusual background for an artist, with degrees in Biochemistry and Botany, which now inspire her art. Her multi-panelled assemblage The Survivors depicts real and imagined plants in juxtaposition with abstract and patterned panels. It refers to the time when New Zealand floated off from the continent of Gonwanaland, with its own Noah’s Ark of travellers, to develop a distinct and bountiful habitat. She depicts natural remnants of Gonwanaland, which are often small, commonplace and delicate structures, but are actually our most hardy of messages from history. She loves using the Gingko leaf, which comes from the oldest tree in the world, a living remnant of the pre-historic era thought to have survived through being nurtured by monks in Japanese gardens.
ARTISTS’ TALK
Paul and Fran Dibble will give a joint artists’ talk at Mahara Gallery at 11am on Wednesday November 4 th, and will be joined by arts critic Mark Amery. Free entry
For further information please contact Mahara Gallery, 04 902 6242
email maharagallery@paradise.net.nz
|
|
|
