Thursday, June 30, 2011

Auction Tonight - 6:30pm

If you can't make it to the saleroom tonight you can log onto http://www.liveauctioneers.com/ and stream the auction in realtime. Applications are available for iphones and blackberry's.






Sunday, June 26, 2011

Gavin Hipkins Talk

About 25 people braved an inclement Auckland Saturday afternoon to enjoy a wonderfully articulate and insightful talk by Gavin Hipkins on his 20 part work in the Wright Collection. A big thanks to Gavin for giving up his Saturday afternoon. Stand by for more of these floor talks to coincide with future catalogues.


Friday, June 24, 2011

Video Preview for The Wright Collection Now Available Online





You can watch A+O Directors Hamish Coney and Ben Plumbly discuss works from next week's auction of The David and Angela Wright Collection above or a higher res version here: http://createsend.nvinteractive.co.nz/t/r/l/jktjudl/dthrjjkh/y/

PRIVATE VIEW

Last night ART+OBJECT held its first invitation only, private preview for family, friends and clients of the Wright family and A+O. Four dozen bottles of Taittinger was consumed and an excellent night was had by all. We will be reverting back to our standard all-welcome invitations for our next auction.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

David and Angela Wright Collection to Open Tomorrow







The David and Angela Wright Collection of Modern and Contemporary New Zealand Art goes on view to the public tomorrow. It will be on view Saturday 11:00 - 4:00pm (with Gavin Hipkins talking on his work at 4:00pm) and on Sunday from 11:00 - 4:00pm also.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

GAVIN HIPKINS TO TALK ON THE NEXT CABIN: SATURDAY 4:00pm

Gavin Hipkins will talk about his 20 part photographic installation, The Next Cabin (2000 - 2002) which features as part of The David and Angela Wright Collection and which graces the cover of the latest catalogue. The talk is open to everyone. Gavin Hipkins is one of New Zealand's leading contemporary artists and has exhibited all over the world including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, in the Sao Paulo Bienal (2002) and in the 11th Biennale of Sydney (1998). He is represented by Starkwhite in Auckland and Hamish McKay Gallery in Wellington.


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Hone Tuwhare Tribute Evening and Auction

Some of New Zealand's top musicians and poets will perform in a tribute concert for late Otago poet Hone Tuwhare.
Dunedin musicians Martin Phillipps and David Kilgour will join Graham Brazier, Herbs, Sam Hunt, Glenn Colquhoun and Whirimako Black in the benefit concert in Auckland on July 7.
"Koha for the Crib" will officially launch the Hone Tuwhare Charitable Trust, which was established to create a writer's residency at Tuwhare's Kaka Point home.
The poet's son, Rob Tuwhare, said about $170,000 was needed to buy and renovate the crib.
"A lot of musicians and artists and poets wanted to help with this concert, to raise funds and get some publicity for the trust," he said yesterday.
"We're looking at having a concert in Dunedin down the road, too, and bring some Auckland musicians down for that."
Tuwhare lived the last 16 years of his life in the modest seaside crib.
He moved to Kaka Point in 1992 and lived there until his death in Dunedin, aged 85, in January 2008.
"The crib needs insulating and double glazing. All these little cribs around the country are disappearing, so we want to keep it how dad had it.
"It's hard to get seed funding for a new trust, so we've got to do it in little pieces and put the jigsaw into place," Mr Tuwhare said.
The trust appealed to the Dunedin City Council at the 2011-2012 annual plan hearings last month for help to establish the writer's residency.
An auction of artworks donated by New Zealand artists will also be held by ART+OBJECT during the concert. The evening will be compered by broadcaster and Hone Tuwhare Trust member Carol Hirschfeld.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The David and Angela Wright Collection of Modern and Contemporary New Zealand Art Catalogue Online Now

Catalogue Available Today: The David and Angela Wright Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art

Gavin Hipkins, The Next Cabin, twenty type C prints, (2000 - 2002)

The David and Angela Wright Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art is perhaps the most significant collection of Twentieth Century New Zealand art to be bought to market in its entirety. It features major examples by almost all of our most esteemed artists of the last thirty years. The catalogue went to print last night and we will be posting it on the website this afternoon.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Extraordinary Results Recorded in June Ceramic and Photography Auctions

Dame Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, Coffee Set: Realised $16 415



Hans Coper, Angular Stoneware Vase: Realised $11 725



Bill Brandt, A Snicket in Halifax: Realised $21 105

Last Wednesday and Thursday's twin sales of The Martin Hill Collection of International and New Zealand Ceramics, The Michael Seresin Collection of International Black and White Photography and Important Photographs witnessed some incredible results, particularly in the international areas. The Martin Hill Collection witnessed some of the most extraordinary and heated bidding ever seen locally in this area as the phone, internet and room battled it out to realise a phenomenal sell through rate in excess of %95 under the hammer, with many of the estimates being eclipsed two and three fold. Some of the highlights included: Michael Cardew, Slipware Water Jar $3865; Abuja Pottery Vase $1875; Dame Lucie Rie, Teapot $7325; Shoji Hamada, Bottle Vase $4690; Barry Brickell, Teapot $1230; Roy Cowan, Floor Vase $2460. On Thursday night some of the highlights from both photography sales included: Bill Henson, Untitled 2/1 $37 520; Atget, Parc de St Cloud $19 930; Andre Kertesz, Satiric Dancer $14 070; Brassai, Fille au Billiards $11 135; W. Eugene Smith, Thelonius Monk... $15 240; O. Winston Link, Hot Shot $11 430; Robin Morrison, Rachael and Fanny Short $5275; Laurence Aberhart, Memorial, Amberley... $4980; Brian Brake, Monsoon Girl $9380; Yvonne Todd, Werta $10 550; Michael Parekowhai, What's the Time Mr Woolf? $13 480. A full list of prices realised will be available shortly.




Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Exhibition Installation Shots













Leigh Melville Updates from The Venice Biennale - Performers in Action







Performance art was one of the themes that emerged from this year's Biennale, a bold or noisy exhibition certainly enhances your chances of getting noticed in the sea of art that seems to emerge from every doorway and palazzo in Venice. Queues outside your exhibition also garner much interest and conversation. Some of the biggest queues were for Britain, where the line seemed to snake right back to the gates of the Giardini, and for the USA, where the wait was made more interesting by the clatter of an overturned British Centurion battle tank. The American pavilion showed work by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, titled Gloria. The work composed four parts and somehow I convinced the Husband to queue alongside me. I don't mind queueing in Venice (sometimes), there is always so much to see and take in, if you don't mind inhaling the cigarettes that much of Europe seems to persist with.



Outside the pavillion an athlete wearing a USA track and field uniform clambered aboard the tank and ran on a treadmill, causing an almighty racket and grabbing the attention of those far and wide. Inside the building we were ushered into a room where a gymnast performed amazing feats atop an airline seat carved out of wood. In the last room you could make a real ATM withdrawal which caused an organ to play.



A feast for the senses but the Husband definitely needed a large Pinot Grigio after all that.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Video Preview: Martin Hill Collection/Michael Seresin Collection/Photographs







You can watch A+O Director's James Parkinson, Hamish Coney and Ben Plumbly discuss next week's suite of sales in the latest video preview above or watch a higher res version here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgpyiNOJuDg.

Stuff cover Photography Festival and Seresin Collection


Here's a link to an article on the Stuff website today covering the Seresin Collection and this Tuesday's Gravity Festival:


Home Magazine Design Awards/Opening Preview




We had one of our best opening previews last night which we held in association with the Home Magazine Design Awards function for 2011. About 150 art/design/ceramic lovers enjoyed more than a few glasses of Daniel le Brun and some great company. Home Magazine editor Jeremy Hansen announced the winner as Sam Haughton/IMO for his A2 stool whose brief was to create "a light,cost-effective and colourful seat."

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Leigh Melville Updates from The Venice Biennale - New Zealand Exhibition Officially Opens






Hundreds gathered last night for the official opening of the New Zealand exhibition. As Michael Parekowhai intended the exhibition came alive with the playing of the red piano, accompanied last night by opera singer Aviale Cole. It was a superb evening.



Yesterday many of us had a first look around at the Giardini and there have been lots of animated conversations among us here, sharing what we have seen, what you must see and what you have seen that you wished you hadn't. For those not so keen on the art, the people watching is pretty good too.



This morning we will visit the curated exhibition at the Arsenale, no doubt a trip that will inspire many more conversations.



Leigh Melville

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Leigh Melville Updates from The Venice Biennale



It was an early start here in Venice this morning for the blessing of Michael Parekowhai's Venice Biennale exhibition On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer. For those patrons who thought they had seen it all Michael had a surprise in store. He Korero Purakau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: Story of a New Zealand River, the intricately carved grand piano, now stood centre stage in vibrant red inside the Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore. I can only imagine what it is like for Michael Parekowhai to see the culmination of years of work finally installed in Venice. New Zealand's presence is being noticed by many, the way to the exhibition through cobbled lanes is signposted with some ingenious bright yellow stickers on the ground so we are not quite so dependent on the ever-present maps.



Outside the Palazzo, in a beautiful walled garden, Chapman's Homer, the standing bull, looks so at home I suspect he may want to stay, and, so may I!



Leigh Melville