Sculptors' Co-operation

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31922, 25 February 1969, Page 1

Sculptors ' Co-operation

Two Christchurch sculptors are packing, in one big box, the plastic models they will send to Auckland for a sculpture competition, in which they will be competing against each other for a prize of $3250. The award, known as the Smirnoff Sculpture Prize, is being offered to mark the centenary of Newmarket this year. The two sculptors, Carl Sydow and Tom Taylor, are among six New Zealand sculptors competing by invitation for the prize.

The winning sculpture will be erected on a plot about 57ft long on the corner of Kyber Pass Road, Davis Crescent, and Broadway—perhaps New Zealand s busiest intersection. Mr Sydow went to Auckland last month to see the site for himself. Mr Taylor has seen it only in photographs supplied by the contest organisers, and some taken by Mr Sydow. Dense traffic, much of it trucks, pours past the site most of the day, and there are big buildings and distracting neon signs round it. The two sculptors have adopted sharply different attitudes to this.

Mr Taylor’s entry, shown in the upper phctograph above, is a steel structure with graceful curves and a spiral, to emphasise the Movement round it. Mr sydow envisages a massive arrangeme nt of cast concrete cylinders (some of which are shown in the lower photograph), designed to block out some of the confusion round it. Mr Sydow . s concrete cylinders—seven of them 4ft in diameter, and the others smaller—would be arranged in groups of three, with one upright group and two horizontal groups. They would be painted in orange and yellow ochre with a spec-

. ial enamel paint which sets with a very hard glaze, making the work virtually chip-proof and vandal-proof. At its largest dimensions, the finished work would be Bft high, 12ft wide, and 18ft long—about twice the size of Mr Taylor's entry, which would be sft high, 4ft wide, and 12ft long. Mr Taylor’s finished work would be in corten steel, a special material which needs no maintenance once it has been installed, On exposure to the weather, it forms a rust covering which gives it an attractive chestnutbrown finish, and prevents further corrosion,