Artist Review

Bing Dawe

Bing Dawe

Make Way
at the Arthouse

31 October to 18 November 2007

Christchurch-based artist Bing Dawe has rightly been described as one of New Zealand’s most prominent sculptors for his distinctive style of art which engages with pressing environmental and social issues in a way that inspires contemplation and open dialogue. He has participated in numerous exhibitions including a major retrospective at the Christchurch Art Gallery –Te Puna o Waiwhetu in 1999 and is the recipient of many awards including the highly prestigious Wallace Art Award in the same year. His work can be found in significant public and private collections both in Aotearoa / New Zealand and overseas.Dawe’s reputation as an art educator is equally impressive and revolves primarily around his long standing position (since 1989) as Programme Coordinator of Bachelor of Design at the Christchurch Polytechnic.
Dawe’s upbringing in Glenavy, South Canterbury alongside the Waitaki River was a formative experience that has fed into both his personal and artistic lives. It has sustained a life-long interest and respect for the environment; its bio-diversity and eco systems and the ways in which human beings interact with these delicate and self-sufficient series of relationships.
Make Way features five sculptural pieces (wall and ceiling mounted) which include a goose, a shag (koau) an eel (tuna), the former an introduced species and the latter two native and endemic to Aotearoa / New Zealand. These beautifully wrought sculptures made from wood, ceramic and steel offer a direct parallel with the colonial experience which saw the indigenous population numerically overwhelmed by the new inhabitants. These works query land use, how land and animals are valued and how different species, both animal and human, co-exist and co-habitat amongst such change and upheaval.
In addition to the four sculptural pieces, Make Way includes a suite of drawings executed in acrylic and oil. Whilst these drawings act as preparatory guides for Dawe’s sculptural pieces, they also stand alone in their own right as unique works of art.