Fiona Connor
Untitled (mural design)
Fruit & small sculpture
April 28–August 12, 2012
30 the Octagon
Dunedin, New Zealand
Since arriving in Dunedin in late February, Los Angeles-based New Zealand artist Fiona Connor has been busy working on a project comprising of two distinct elements. Untitled (mural design) involved the reformulation of Colourbox: an exhibition which was recently shown at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Colourbox consisted of a number of late twentieth century New Zealand neo-expressionist and colour field paintings from the Gallery’s collection and included works by Philip Trusttum, Pat Hanly, Alan Pearson, Jeffrey Harris, and Gretchen Albrecht. Untitled (mural design) utilizes this pre-existing structure, the collection show, as raw data for rethinking the relationship between exhibition design, didactic information, and even the function of the artwork.
Connor’s ‘resolved’ exhibition explores the intervening in and testing of the Gallery’s role in generating and facilitating ‘art experiences.’ The manufactured portable hanging systems utilized in Untitled (mural design) allows the paintings to be removed from the walls and reinstalled as free standing movable screens. As part of this process the artist will invite a series of people who she worked with in Dunedin and further afield to reorganise the display at regular intervals over the duration of the show:
Aaron Kreisler and Fiona Connor
April 28–May 27 2012
Michael Parr and Blaine Western
May 29–June 17 2012
Adam Elliott, Spencer Hall, Clarke Hegan, Jed McCammon, Sam Oram, Phoebe Thompson, and Hamish Wadworth
June 19–July 15 2012
By challenging preconceived notions of spatial and exhibition formation, Connor is rejecting the traditional standards of composition and design; a concept that is fittingly displayed in the neo-expressionist artworks themselves.
Connor’s first project, Fruit & small sculpture, was a makeshift shop that the artist created as a place for the sale/exchange of fresh produce, art, printed matter, and ideas. Instead of engaging with artworks and spatial formations—as in Untitled (mural design)—Fruit & small sculpture allowed the artist to engage directly with a wide range of people in the community. Located outside of the Gallery, it was able to function as a shop without necessarily having to be read as an art experience. Fruit & small sculpture was, in addition to an area set aside for the creation of art, a place to hang out and discuss critical issues, critique artworks, and explore the relationship between everyday and creative activities.
This temporary space will live on in the form of the Fruit & small sculpture Lending Library. Developed in collaboration with Gilbert May, this mobile lending library is housed in a cart and contains primary documentation such as sculptures and transcripts of critiques. In addition, secondary reading material that was utilized in the space will be available.
Fiona Connor was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1981 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Fiona completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts/Bachelor of Arts (BFA/BA) at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand and went on to complete the Master of Fine Arts programme at the California Institute for the Arts in Los Angeles in 2011. Fiona has been part of the Visiting Artist Programme at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand in 2012.
Selected solo exhibitions include Murals and Print (2012), Various Small Fires, Los Angeles; Reading the map while driving (2011), CalArts, Los Angeles; Something Transparent (please go around the back) II (2010), Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland; The sky a tree and a wall (in collaboration with Kate Newby) (2010), California Institute for the Arts L-Shaped Gallery, Los Angeles; Something Transparent (please go around the back) (2009).
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery has been operating the Visiting Artist Programme since the mid-1990s with the support of Creative New Zealand. As one of the longest standing short-term visual artist residency programmes in New Zealand, it has produced stunning projects by a number of highly regarded artists including; Ricky Swallow, Peter Robinson, Spencer Finch, Dane Mitchell, Mikala Dwyer, Simon Denny, Nina Katchadourian, Alicia Frankovich, and Peter Wegner.
*Fiona Connor, Untitled (mural design), 2012. Installation detail.
Image courtesy of the artist and Hopkinson Cundy, Auckland.
