This winter art is breaking out of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery’s walls and onto the New Plymouth city streets.

Timed to coincide with the Taranaki International Festival of the Arts, the Govett-Brewster continues is OffSite / InSight public art initiative with a large-scale work in the public space by the Huatoki River on Devon Street West.

Working with Parks, New Plymouth District Council, the Gallery is producing a 10 x 6 metre print of leading New Zealand photographer Peter Peryer’s work Tecomanthe 2005.

This billboard-sized work will grace the blank wall of the Collier building from 19 July 2007.

The photograph portrays the rare and delicate flower of the native climber tecomanthe speciosa. This plant was rescued from extinction in 1945 when a single specimen was found on Three Kings Islands. From this one plant it has become a popular variety in gardens around New Zealand.

Peryer’s photographs often play with scale, demonstrated here in extreme as the small creamy green tecomanthe flower is presented thousands of times its normal size.

As a photographer and a gardener Peryer says he finds the tecomanthe particularly interesting.

“I only photograph subjects that I’m interested in. As soon as I saw the flower of the tecomanthe several years ago I knew straight away that it fell into this category. The history of the plant’s discovery and resurrection is a bonus,” he says.

New Plymouth-based Peryer has exhibited extensively around New Zealand and internationally and his work is held in a number of significant collections including at the Govett-Brewster.

Govett-Brewster Director Rhana Devenport says that OffSite / InSight was conceived to bring art to the community in fresh and engaging ways.

“I believe art has the power to connect with and move people in complex ways. The Offsite / Insight projects offer art directly to people in unexpected corners of the city, “ she says.

Devenport says Peryer’s work was chosen because of his eminence as a leading New Zealand photographer and particularly because of his deep understanding of the flora of Aotearoa.

The Gallery currently has two other works offsite. Fiona Hall’s garden installation Mown 2007 is located at Pukaka / Marsland Hill Memorial Park and I-TASC’s Groundhog 2006 on the foreshore. Both works are part of the current exhibition New Nature which continues until 2 September.

Ends

For more information please contact:
Hannah Leahy
Communications Co-ordinator
hannahl@govettbrewster.com
+64-6-759-6717