Graham Bennett
Powder-coated stainless steel, glass stone
T.R.I.G. - how near, how far? draws on time-honoured
technologies of land-marking, surveying and navigating. Bennett's
three kinetic four-legged markers are reminiscent of the
black-and-white trig beacons that identify our highest points and
which are linchpins in the process of dividing and allocating land.
They prompt questions about survey and measurement but leave
responses to the viewer. Do they simply demarcate physical
boundaries or are they like coastal beacons of old, that signalled
imminent danger? Are they warnings about the stability of the
environment? Do they have wider implications?
T- truths, tricks; R- rights, rites; I- insight, incite; G-
graft, grasp.
Graham Bennett was born in Nelson. He is a graduate of
Canterbury University School of Fine Art, and resides in
Christchurch. He has been making and exhibiting consistently in
national and international arenas since 1979 with regular solo
shows, group exhibitions and public and private commissions. His
work is held in collections in New Zealand, Australia, Japan,
Spain, United States and Hong Kong.
Selected large scale or public works include: Engage (2006),
Christchurch South Library; Reasons to Return (2005), Connell's Bay
Sculpture Park, Waiheke Island; Fixing Positions (2004), Rocky Bay,
Waiheke Island; Reasons for Voyaging (2003), Christchurch Art
Gallery; Lines Extending (2003), Kurashiki City, Japan; Tribute to
Firefighters (2002), Christchurch; Sea/Sky/Kaipara (1997), The
Farm, Kaipara.