Street Alive

I am sure there are many quiet streets in the suburbs, but here in central Auckland, there is never a dull moment on our carriageways. Football crowds heading to the matches, glamourous cars, fan flagged vehicles and cycle posses.

Determined Football Fans

French Flair

Hot Rod Delight

Organised Cycle Gallery Tour - Art Week

Art on the Footpath

Art encounters come thick and fast in our part of town. A short walk along the footpath presents art on traffic signal boxes, windowsills and in shop windows. Some of the finer works of art on public exhibition are the ladies of K Road - fashionably dressed Fa'afafines and drag queens and almost dressed working girls.

Mysterious activity in the woods  grafittied "adopted by Greens"

"How much is that doggie in the window?" - window sill at Art Station

"Ladies of K Road" - framers shop window

Art Week

Art Week in Auckland has begun. Yesterday I went for a short walk, visiting five galleries in K Road and Ponsonby. The impression that Art is important to New Zealanders is growing stronger. At the nearby Art Station ( reminiscent of Brisbane Institute of Art ) a bizarre workshop involving young artists in a reduced sensory environment was underway. The products of the experiment will be the first exhibition in a new street window gallery. Very impressed by the space and the exhibition standard at Object Space just across the road from Art Space. More excitement during the week will include a Pecha Kucha at Auckland Art Gallery. I hope to attend.

The Edge

“Always to be pushing out like this, beyond what I know cannot be the limits – what else should a man's life be ? Especially an old man who has, by a clear stroke of fortune, been violently freed of the comfortable securities that make old men happy to sink into blindness, deafness, the paralysis of all desire, feeling, will. What else should our lives be but a continual series of beginnings, of painful settings out into the unknown, pushing off from the edges of consciousness into the mystery of what we have not yet become.” 

from An Imaginary Life by David Malouf 

Surprises

Some of the charms of this city of Auckland are the sudden and contrary glimpses....

the  confrontations....

the musical moments

the surprises presented to us every day. Never a dull moment!

A Tour with Ron Brownson

                                              

                                              Polynesia by Jim Allen - limestone

Yesterday I joined Ron Brownson's talk at the Auckland Art Gallery. Having met him briefly on our footpath during the Chalk History project last week, I was keen to hear more from him. He is the Senior Curator of New Zealand and Pacific Art at the Gallery and his gentle retiring style did nothing to hide his erudite and lifelong knowledge of his field. His contribution to the accumulation and exhibition of the gallery's collection has been invaluable.
                                                                                     

                                                                                            Maori Boy by Rita Angus 1942

                                                             Nor' Wester in the Cemetery by William Sutton 1950

                                                                       On Building Bridges by Colin McCahon 1952

Art in our Street

                                                          Sunken Buiding by John Radford 1998

Extraordinary coincidence - two days ago I accompanied Prabhash to his first run in a nearby park and was impressed by a set of sunken buildings ( totally fictional) designed by sculptor John Radford. 


Two days later I stepped out of my door in East Street to inspect an art happening ( the chalk inscribing of all the names of house owners in our street  for the last 100 years ) and was addressed by a singular figure in red cap and jumper and he introduced himself as John Radford the sculptor. 

                           above - Jeremy Leatinu'u chalking a ghostly roll call in East Street
                           below  - Prabhash at our front door during the chalking.

  
The Synchronicity was extraordinary and I shook his hand warmly as if I was meeting an old friend. Prabhash and I had just pressed cups of coffee and biscuits on the two Samoan artists Louise Tu'u and Jeremy Leatinu'u doing the chalk history . Also on our footpath, inspecting the project was a senior curator from the Auckland Gallery - Ron Brownson. We chatted and decided to attend his tour of the Gallery the following Sunday.


I already suspect that Art means more to the people of these islands, than to their neighbours on that large island.

More Celebrations yet already

                                                                   photos by Prabhash Dias Abeygunawardhana

Last weekend the burgeoning Indian population of this distant land, celebrated a  famous compatriot's return from an island and from exile. DIWALI  remembers Rama and Sita's flight home to north India from Sri Lanka and may mean something very personal for the Indian Kiwis.

The festival is celebrated over two days in Aotea Square in the centre of Auckland and even spills over into the main street which is partially closed for the occasion. We sampled delicious masala and samosa and bought a small altar lamp for Prabhash's Buddha shrine.

New Zealand's 100,000 strong Indian population has migrated here from Fiji and India or achieved permanent residence after study here and is expected to double in the next ten years so the IT and small business future of this country is assured.

A Floral Greeting

Surprises in the Gallery

The first gallery Prabhash and I entered, we were greeted by a geometric piece by Aussie artist John Nixon. The new main entrance foyer with its great New Zealand kauri timber ceiling was dominated by a continually inflating and deflating flower sculpture by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa. Delightful choice for an entree.

Prabhash with a John Nixon abstract

During the first week after our arrival, the Auckland Art gallery reopened in grand style. Ex Qld Art Gallery curator Chris Saines is the much revered Director here, who saw the Gallery through its spectacular renovation and extension. Its  a great job well done. A 30 million dollar gift of art including Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian and more has added impact to the permanent collection. The Maori presence at the opening and during the refocus was strong. Young Maoris from a local Marae greeted the crowd.

Another Welcome - Auckland Art Gallery Reopens

Welcome Fire

Arrival in Auckland

Prabhash and I arrived in Auckland at the end of August  to find the city swamped with excited and slightly demented rugby fans from all over the globe.... driven to this edge of the world with rugger missionary zeal and the same migratory enthusiasm that brought the Maori people here in their canoes a thousand years ago, spreading polynesian culture to the farthest corner of the planet.


On the opening night of the World Rugby Cup, the streets filled with shouting Samoans, singing Tongans, reeling Irishmen disguised as large leprechauns, dragon-flag clad Welsh and a confused medley of local folk choosing to dress in the black of the home team or in empathy with favourite visiting teams. Then the sky erupted with fireworks from every possible launch pad including the Sky Tower that looms over the city centre. 


We decided to hurry home for shelter, as the 200,000 strong crowd tried to fit into public areas and public transport designed for an expected 50,000, but we felt thoroughly welcomed to our new home.