Constructions, drawings

Press, 5 April 1983, Page 26

Constructions, drawings

Paul Cullen, Table Series (Disjunctions), Constructions and Drawings, at the Brooke/Gifford Gallery, until April 8. Reviewed by John Hurrell. The Auckland sculptor, Paul Cullen, has five wooden constructions and seven drawings on display in the large room of the Brooke/Gifford Gallery. This is a show which is distinctive through the connection of the wall drawings to the ideas found in these elegant, yet paradoxically rough-hewn works. These homely sculptures are based on small table or stool-like forms, which stand about waist-height on three or four spindly legs on the gallery floor. In many of these constructions, delicate structures of thin spruce strips, serve as a foil to the more substantial solid planes of radiata, which make up the “table’.’ tops and legs. None of these sculptures has been varnished or painted, and indeed they exude a rawness caused by a prevalence of pencil lines, rough sawing, glue marks, empty dowelling holes, and thin slivers of wood from spruce structures which have been subsequently removed.

In fact, these works are notably for their lack of technical finesse, especially when compared with the craftsmanship of local sculptors, Bing Dawe or Stephen Clarke. Mr Cullen’s sculptures emphasise the physical and mental processes used in making the work, and do not cover up or sand over any such traces. The line drawings use orthographic projection by not incorporating any perspective, in order to experiment with the raising or swivelling of sections of planes found in simple architectural forms. They are shifted from one position to another. This interest on removing part of a building’s facade and relocating it so that its effects on the whole structure can be assessed, is continued in the constructions. Two constructions use hinges to divide a horizontal plane, and drop down one corner or side. The positioning of the fine spruce structures, which are also divided across the sliced line, wittily emphasise the change in planar direction although through their linear qualities, rather than through any sense of im-

plied mass. One big failure of these works is that the process marks serve as ornamentation if not enough clues are provided for the viewer to recreate the artist’s decisions. Spruce sections have obviously been removed from some works, and yet no indication is given as to why. This arbitrariness is continued into some of the shapes of the spruce forms themselves. Some are too obviously based on balsa modelling shapes and are not conducive to a sympathetic elaboration of the main planar shift in the work. Puzzingly as well, there is a disappointing lack of structural unity in some of the works, between the lowered horizontal planes, and the legs supporting the work. The two areas could have keen interrelated, instead of isolated, if the function of the supporting structure had been pushed a little further. In spite of these quibbles, this is an excellent exhibition that has real presence, and one vitally important for anybody interested in contemporary New Zealand sculpture. It promises to be a highlight of 1983.