Maori art work for complex

Press, 9 March 1988, Page 9

Maori art work for complex

A fourth art work will be,commissioned for the new Christchurch law courts complex to recognise the Maori history of the site.

The first three art wdrks for the site, the subject of a $150,000 commission by the Justice Department, were announced yesterday.

The artists who will prepare works are Bianca Van Rangelrooy, Mark Whyte and Richard Mcllroy, all of whom trained or live in Christchurch.

The works proposed

by the three artists were the only proposals received by the committee set up to select works after several artists withdrew in protest against there not being equal numbers of women and nonEuropeans invited to submit possible works.

The convener of the selection committee, and the director of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Mr John Coley, said yesterday that the commissioning of a fourth work by a Maori artist was an answer to criticism that the Maori

history of the site had not been recognised. Five of! the eight artists asked to submit designs withdrew their proposals in December. All but one of the eight was male and none were Maori. The Secretary for Justice, Mr David Oughton, who announced the successful artists yesterday, said | the fourth commission would mark the historic importance of the site. “Originally it was the site of a rangatira’s whare. It is fitting that

I some commemoration; of that should be incorporated in the new com-! plex,” he said.

“The site therefore signified authority and justice to that earlier community and the significance, through this fourth piece of art, will continue for a much larger and diverse society.” i

The selection committee had consulted representatives of the Ngai Tahu people and, because of the advice from the Ngai-Tahu Trust, a Maori artist

would be commissioned to complete the fourth work. . >

The original brief for the artists was that their work had to reflect the multi-cultural nature of the law courts. The three works chosen are a wall piece in painted copper, by Bianca Van Rangelrooy; a steel form sculpture, by Richard Mcllroy; and a carved stone sculpture, by Mark Whyte. I Mr Coley isaid the fourth commission would be met from the budget