Jeff Thomson
Steel, fibre glass, concrete, timber, solar panels and natural
materials
On the day before the Sculpture on the Gulf opening in
2007, a 40-foot launch caught fire, exploded and burned to the
waterline in Church Bay, drifting and eventually sinking in Te Miro
Bay, only metres from where I was installing my sculpture offering
for 2007. The retreating tide left the small beach littered with
flotsam from the wreckage, a burnt photo album, fishing equipment,
floats, charred timber, paper, a paddle and a life jacket. What was
left of the launch was visible just under the water's surface,
gentle swells creating movement of the debris still attached to the
hull. Thick lengths of rubber that rolled back and forth with the
water's motion suggested fish frolicking on the surface, while
ripped and shredded canvas mimicked the seaweed's waving in the
current.
This sculpture was inspired by that boat wreck. It is a look at
an imaginary underwater world created from commonly-found materials
that take on quite different meanings when placed in an unusual
environment.
Jeff Thomson was born in Auckland in 1957. He completed a
Bachelor of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of
Auckland in 1981.
In the early 1980s Thomson undertook a series of long distance
walks throughout New Zealand. The experiences he had on these walks
and what he created from them has influenced and shaped the
direction of his work ever since.
In 1995 he was the Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of
Otago and in 2000, the Tylee Cottage Artist in Residence at the
Sarjeant Art Gallery in Wanganui. Whilst there Thomson established
a roofing company and set about screen printing rooftops,
guttering, and downpipes on both existing and new buildings.
He regularly exhibits throughout New Zealand, Australia, Germany
and France. This is his fourth headland
SCULPTURE ON THE GULF showing.