PLEASE DEAL WITH ME AS YOU LIKE.
The Archive Lounge at Christchurch Art Gallery is a space I’ve been visiting and thinking about a lot this month. I’ve just finished writing my first exhibition review on their newest reveal of archival materials behind some of NZ’s most well-known artists. ‘Bread and Butter’. That’s the name of the display. It consists of their illustration work from the NZ School Journal in the 1940s-50s that they Had To Do To Survive Whilst Growing Their Practice. It made me feel a strange kinship with the great artists who were trying their best to sustain themselves before me, to also live their dream. It was a pivotal time in NZ history where more Māori subjects were replacing the British material that dominated those journals (like biographies of the royal family) that were read by all the children in the country. The curator included some delicious diagrams, whimsical prints, and technical drawings of NZ fauna. I was particularly pulled to the illustration of the NZ weta by Des Helmore. The details were agonisingly intricate. It lingered tirelessly in my mind and I thought it made a grand mascot for this curious space. The Lounge only opened last November and connects to the staff rooms and bathrooms outside. You will see the grey couch-chairs neatly line the back corner. It feels like a hole or crevice in a big forest tree where wetas typically reside. They are also nocturnal so they would take good care of the space at night when nobody is around. Anyway, I attempted to mold some leftover polymer clay into something resembling it, only looking at Des’ diagram of the weta. I wrote a little label printed on school paper, holding anticipation for it to have a second life. I anticipate the very first person other than myself to encounter them and imagine their life ahead. I attempted to be anonymous by stating I am anonymous, though I did have a lengthy conversation about reviewing and going to the space that day, with a gallery staff member, who is also my next door neighbour.
You can read my review here.
TITLE: MASCOT PROPOSAL FOR ARCHIVE LOUNGE PROTOTYPE 1
INSPIRED BY: CANTERBURY WETA DRAWING BY DES HELMORE IN ‘BREAD AND BUTTER’ DISPLAY
ARTIST: ANONYMOUS
MEDIUM: POLYMER CLAY IN GLAD SNAPLOCK RESEAL BAG (AMATEUR) (UNBAKED) (FRAGILE) (A HALF-HOUR PURSUIT)
PLEASE DEAL WITH ME AS YOU LIKE. I ANTICIPATE MY SECOND LIFE.
PERHAPS YOU COULD MOLD ME INTO A BALL AND SING ME A LULLABY. EXTRACT MY FLIMSY LIMBS AND LAY THEM OUT AT THE PLACE YOU LAST FELT A STIRRING OF THE HEART. ROLL ME UP SO I CAN PACK YOU DOWN. GIVE ME ONE LAST LOOK OF DISGUST SO YOU CAN DISCARD ME, BUT NEVER FORGET ME.
PLEASE DEAL WITH ME AS YOU LIKE.
