Bodies seen as architecture

Press, 27 July 1988, Page 19

Bodies seen as architecture

By

KAY FORRESTER

The architecture of bodies is a familiar theme to Christchurch sculptor Richard Reddaway. In the three large photomontages and working drawings that make up his exhibition at the Jonathan Jensen Gallery he explores it again.

The medium is a twodimensional equivalent of sculpting, the young artist says.

"I’m a sculptor but since leaving arts school (in 1985) it has been difficult to sculpt because of the space you need.” So he has continued his work with figures on film. “I like working with the figure, exploring the theme of parts inter-relat-ing as a whole.” His montages use building blocks of repeated images of almost lifesize nude figures.

In "Barrel Vault” the images are fanned like a pack of cards. “Freize” stacks human body dominoes end on end. “Rose Window” is a self portrait in the shape of a rose window.

Reddaway. says he looked back to Romanesque and Gothic architecture and their repeated figurative decorations for the inspiration for his work.

“When I left arts school I was looking for a role model for the artist so I looked into the history of art and that took me to architecture since so much of art has been expressed in architecture. In those ancient forms I found rhythmical patterns that I have used in my work.”

The photomontages he

first created were photographs stuck on paper. Now the photographs are on aluminium, the pieces making up each image riveted together, and the whole screwed to the gallery wall.

The images were smaller at first. Reddaway says the present works are almost lifesize to point up the concept of people as parts or building blocks of society. Following the Christchurch exhibition which ends on Saturday is a three-person show at Artspace in Auckland in November. “It will be these works and some more — the culmination of the photomontage work.”

After November the artist wants to return to sculpture of the three dimensional variety.