Temporary art space to whet the appetite
Reproduced from Otago Daily Times On-line edition
Article written By Nigel Benson on Sat, 14 Apr 2012
A temporary shop which challenges perceptions about art has opened in the main street of Dunedin.
“Fruit and Small Sculpture” opened for business in Princes St on Thursday as part of the 2012 Dunedin Public Art Gallery visiting artist programme.
[DPAG visiting artist Fiona Conner can be seen working at Fruit & small sculture 110 Princes St, Dunedin, just south of Moray Place]
The shop, open until April 31, would sell and trade fruit, vegetables and small sculptural works, Los Angeles-based artist Fiona Connor said.
“I wanted to set up a studio with a shop front. Basically, it’s an artist-run space that presents both fresh fruit and vegetables alongside art.”
The shop would also be a forum for the artist to engage with a wide range of people, without being in the context of a more formal art space, Connor said.
“I wanted to look at sculpture as being temporary and site-specific. Things like fruit, vegetables and cheese have sculptural qualities and when you go into a grocery shop people are familiar with how to read and approach it.
“Yet, when people go into an art gallery to look at sculpture, they sometimes feel a distance between them and the work. I was interested in challenging that, because perhaps artists just want you to relax and let the work speak to you.”
International artists and Otago Polytechnic School of Art students have also contributed sculptural works to the project.
