Art on the Streets
By: Matt Searles
Tags: Angels, Art, Cantebury, Christchurch, City, Culture, earthquake, Metal, New Zealand, Rust, Sculpture, Street, Time
Category: Art, Christchurch, Earthquake, New Zealand, Public art, Sculpture
| Aperture: | f/8 |
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| Focal Length: | 24mm |
| ISO: | 200 |
| Shutter: | 1/0 sec |
| Camera: | NIKON D90 |
With so many galleries and exhibition spaces hit by the earthquakes, it would be easy to assume that art-lovers would be at a loss. But one thing that has struck me amongst all the chaos and de-construction is just how much beauty there is in the most public of spaces.
The above sculpture, in Disraeli Street by Ian Lamont, for me is one example. I love the ambiguity in the reach of the end figure – is it claiming ascension, celebrating its apparent metamorphosis from its preceding trees in the sculpture or perhaps even surrendering to some unknown force? I like to think it celebrates evolution – that even the angels came from the trees – but this view almost perpetuates the ambiguity further as it goes against the quote on the placard by Benjamin Disraeli – “Is man an ape or an angel? I, my lord, am on the side of the angels” – part of an address that the great man gave in 1864 to the Oxford Diocesan Conference in which he repudiated the “new fangled” ideas of Darwin.
The other photos in the gallery show the sculpture on the corner of Madras and St Asaph Street called ‘Passing Time’ by Anton Parsons. The way the numbers form their almost sinewy curves and pick out the setting sun as is moves down St Asaph Street is a thing of great beauty. It could be argued that where it stands – on the very perimeter of the City Centre Red Zone – is as far from a place of beauty as you could get. Yet I find there is a sad and somewhat brutal beauty in the piles of debris and broken structures that line the neighboring streets.
As the old adage goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And this has never been so true as it is in Christchurch at this time. But that’s a story for another day… and blog post.
PS. Incidentally I write this on Primrose Day, April 19th – the anniversary of Disraeli’s death. Now there’s an unforeseen coincidence.
PhotoKilty 
great image isolating otherwise mundane surroundings (although hummingbird across the street create caffeine art..)
Absolutely! It’s a travesty that the ugly Mazda car parts dealer forms the backdrop to such an insightful piece of sculpture! +1 on Hummingbird too, always a good brew to be found there.