Isn’t it iconic?

I just want to say that I am heartily sick of the term “iconic”. It seems sometimes that every little bit of pop culture, kitsch or kiwiana is some sort of cultural icon. Are we that desperate for identity? It leads to the country being littered with gigantic fish, fruit and vege, L&P bottles (actually I don’t mind that one), gumboots and stuff like this.

I guess it taps into nostalgia, our childhoods, a simpler time, and makes us smile but after a while it just gets on my nerves. ‘Iconic’ begins to make as much sense as that song by Alanis Morrisette which is only any good when interpreted by Ed Byrne. It becomes about as appealing as a paua shell ashtray set in black resin and makes me wonder what was so threatening about giant rabbits in Cathedral Square? That said, I am the owner of a disconcerting amount of kitsch items.

Now I’m done with that rant, I made a great find at the library book sale today. ARD Fairburn biography “Walking on my Feet” - 25cents (!!!) One wonders why they were getting rid of it. It had quite a section about his fabric prints of Maori rock art designs (after T Schoon). I was ‘debating’ over at Ashbash today about the symbolism of Schoon and Walters and cultural theft etc (I really need to just lurk there and keep my mouth shut) and I wish I’d mentioned Fairburn’s money making off the back of these images - even though he did badly because he gave so much away. I have seen a framed panel in the current “Art of the Nation” exhibit at Te Papa and I understand they hold more of Fairburn’s fabrics. I wonder if they are a conservation nightmare considering how he ‘aged’ them by letting the fabric go mouldy under his house?

My library really has been getting better and better and it made the past year when I didn’t have access to a University library (which is SO NICE to have back) bearable. They have bought the last few books I have suggested including “The $12 Million Stuffed Shark“, the author of which, Don Thompson, will be on the Kim Hill programme this weekend. OK so they had the artist of a Nigel Brown limited edition print that hangs in the library down as Gordon Brown but they were happy to correct that. And I’m saying all this without the prospect of being employed there either :-) The building even has award winning architecture by Warren and Mahoney. Apparently it is a ”carefully layered and elegantly composed building that engages the human spirit” which is a bit of a stretch but I do like the modernist influence.

On the subject of books, the New Zealand Post Writers and Readers week starts tomorrow. I doubt I will get to anything but will attempt to see “The Camera is a Small Room“. If you are looking for icons, “Art & Text” might do the trick as McCahon’s I AM could truly be considered iconic.

As a footnote, isn’t it weird when you come across something that could have been written from your own life. This has happened a few times recently which maybe is just a reflection of New Zealand literature and the commonality of experience of NZ life with the country being so small and all. But “Chemical evolution: Drugs and Art Production 1970-1980″ by Martin Edmond was scarily close to home - so many familiar people and places. Also just as a social history document it was prescient with all the talk of “Muldoonism” in the current election scare mongering and also recent cases bringing up historic police corruption. All I can say is that I don’t think ANYONE wants to go back to those times politically. Anyone remember the Knobz and the song Culture? Which brings me to “Tea Towel of the week” - a la Richard Till.

Modernism came to New Zealand

What I know about architecture could fit on the head of a pin, well maybe a thumb tack, but current threads of research keep bringing me to this name “Ernst Plischke“.

• Peter Preyer is in Alexandra on a residency at Henderson House designed by Plischke in 1950.
• In 1951 Evelyn Page and her husband, Frederick, bought some land at Waikanae. There they built a holiday house designed by the noted architect Ernst Plischke, who was also a friend.
• As in my last post, I noted Plischke was on the design team of the historic state housing precinct of Savage Crescent in Palmerston North where I once lived.

These are just a few that have cropped up this week! There was an exhibition about Plischke’s work at the City Gallery in 2004 (which I missed) and I see there was a monograph put out then too and I’m trying to get hold of a copy.

 
Massey House, Lambton Quay, Wellington (couldn’t find any nice pictures of his houses)

I like modernist architecture but it is odd how it is often overlooked. Douglas Lloyd Jenkins wrote in 2003 “Recently, a 1950s house designed by Graeme Smith and home for most of its life to prominent designer Frank Carpay sold under the banner “The Ultimate Do Up.” (It was full of his built-in furniture - perhaps the ultimate box for a Crown Lynn collector.) ” Its frightening to think of them ripping out the guts of that home. Someoneiknow thinks I just like 1950s architecture because my Carltonware Lobster plates would look good in it. EDIT: Actually there is debate whether my lobster plates would good anywhere.

I feel DLJ (described by Wallpaper magazine as one of the most influential design writers in the Southern Hemisphere) has also gone “under the radar” a bit since his appointment as Director at the Hawkes Bay Museum and Art Gallery. I used to enjoy is column in “The Listener” and I confess to enjoying the first series of “The Big Art Trip” with Nick Ward but Fiona McDonald just put me off in the second series (I see its being re-run on Freeview).

I do have a small problem with “design” though. I understand the idea of form and functionality but sometimes I wonder how well that really works. Take the Juicy Salif Fruit Juicer by Phillip Stark, touted as “simple, practical yet strikingly attractive at the same time”. I have never used one but I bet it doesn’t keep the pips out of the juice. Can anyone confirm/deny this??

Oh and if you want some real architectural commentary, check out Eye of the Fish.

Remembrance of Things Past

Firstly I have to admit I haven’t read Proust. I do know a little about the themes (which I suppose makes this is a bit like “How to talk about books you haven’t read“) but his ideas of memory seem to apply somewhat to my feelings towards photography.  The photos that resonate for me and draw an emotional, often visceral response and transport me to a place from my memory. However, memory is unreliable and sometimes maybe I am responding to something imagined, a dream or a nightmare.

So yesterday I got out a few books, Laurence Aberhart’s ’domestic architecture’  and “Contemporary New Zealand Photographers” and also a video about Annie Liebowitz. The South Bank Show episode on Liebowitz was a disappointment as it was made at the height of the celebrity Hollywood portraits, although it did look at the Rolling Stone work and had an interesting interview with Hunter S Thompson. I remember an exhibition of her work at the City Gallery some time ago (1997!) that seemed much broader and her book “Women” is excellent. Also just take a look at this portrait. I personally think it says a lot. There is a good commentary about this photograph here from the Guardian.

Mind you, to me you couldn’t better the Mapplethorpe exhibition at the City Gallery in 1996. I don’t why I like his photographs so much when they are simply a different world. Maybe it appeals to my voyeuristic nature?

So back to the New Zealand photography. Aberhart’s house’s are great and appealed because I also love what I call “wedding cake houses” the Art Deco flat roofed NZ style that features largely in the book. I used to live in a ‘nest’ of them in historical Savage Crescentin Palmerston North. That development is quite amazing in itself. Ernst Plischke was one of the architects.

Anyway that reminded me of a book I have “Images of a House” by Robin Morrison, another NZ photographer that I am fond of. His ‘Sense of Place’ was exactly that for me and many of his photos capture the South Island of my childhood memories.

The slighty sepia toned photos in “Images of a House” capture something I can’t quite put into words. Even though the house is occupied there is a late afternoon, dusty loneliness.

Another photograph that caught my eye recently was this (on trademe!) :

JAMES K. BAXTER HAVING BREAKFAST AT JERUSALEM ON THE WHANGANUI RIVER

This image appeared in the book “James K. Baxter: A Memorial Volume 1926-72″ with text by Michael King, Maurice Shadbolt, Tim Shadbolt and others.  Its says photographer unknown.

For a more recent view of photography the Contempoarary NZ book was great. Many of the images entered into the dream/nightmare category for me for example Yvonne Todd.

Speaking of Todd, nice to see a partial(?) list of proposals submitted to CNZ  for the 2008 Venice Biennale at Over the net. I cannot understand why an official list cannot be made available. Its public money surely? Lots of analogies have been made but you wouldn’t see his kind of thing happening with the major book awards.