Graham Bennett’s Art Experiments Coming To Canterbury Museum

An exhibition of experimental artworks by acclaimed Christchurch sculptor Graham Bennett opens at Canterbury Museum on Friday.

Graham Bennett assembles Converse (2008) at Canterbury Museum

AXIS + AXES: Graham Bennett Experimental Works showcases Bennett’s artworks alongside objects from the Museum’s collection that have inspired them.

The works on display are the products of Bennett’s experiments with new designs and materials, providing a unique insight into three decades of his practice. Many of the works are from the artist’s rarely-seen personal collection.

Bennett’s association with Canterbury Museum dates back to the 1990s, when he began exploring the Museum’s Pacific collection with the support of Emeritus Curator Roger Fyfe, then Senior Curator of Anthropology.

Bennett was particularly drawn to ceremonial adzes made in Mangaia in the Cook Islands for trade with visiting Europeans.

Bennett’s installation Transfer, inspired by the skilful carvings of the Mangaian adzes, was created for the 2008 exhibition at Canterbury Museum Conversations Across Time/Whakawhiti Kōrero.

His latest installation, Disrupt, has been created especially for AXIS + AXES. The artwork’s 33 machine-shaped wooden axes with laser-cut perforations are made from introduced pine and native timbers. This work is partly inspired by poet Allen Curnow’s 1948 verse play The Axe, about the disruptive effects of colonisation and metal technology on Mangaia.

Bennett says of studying Pacific tools and navigation devices in the Museum’s collection: “For me, the privilege of close contact with an artefact – to understand and to honour it – is to have a private conversation, across time, with the maker and to pay tribute to their skill, energy and application.”

“It’s wonderful to display these works in the place where the ideas for many of them began. These experimental works are rarely seen and some have not been on public display before so I’m keen to see how people react.”

Canterbury Museum Director Anthony Wright says he’s thrilled the Museum is hosting the exhibition.

“Graham is one of Canterbury’s foremost artists. His works have become part of the fabric of this place – few locals would fail to recognise his monumental installation Reasons for Voyaging outside Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, which was informed by voyaging waka and navigation charts in the Museum’s collection. We’re very privileged to have had a strong working relationship with him over many years, and to have developed this exhibition together.”

AXIS + AXES opens on 28 May and runs until 24 October.

About Graham Bennett

Graham Bennett was born in Nelson in 1947. He graduated from University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1970. His works can be found in high-profile sites across New Zealand, from Sea/Sky/Kaipara at Gibbs Farm in Auckland, Tribute to Firefighters on Christchurch’s Avon River and Reasons for Voyaging, the huge sculpture on the forecourt of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. Graham Bennett - Around Every Circle, a book published last year, showcases his career spanning 50 years of making and exhibiting work nationally and internationally.

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