Title: New Zealand: On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
Artist: Michael Parekowhai
Venue: Palazzo Loredan dell’Ambasciatore
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, a sculptural installation by Michael Parekowhai is a project based on a poem by the nineteenth-century English Romantic poet John Keats, in which he describes a Spanish adventurer climbing to the top of a hill in what is now Panama and looking out over the Pacific and surveying its potential riches for the first time. The work includes one intricately-carved Steinway concert grand piano, He Korero Purakau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: story of a New Zealand river, and two concert grands fabricated in bronze, supporting two cast bronze bulls. On one piano, A Peak in Darien, a full-size bull rests on the closed lid with its massive body supposedly suggesting the folding forms of landscape. On the other piano, Chapman’s Homer, the bull is standing firm offering an eye-to-eye challenge for anyone prepared to take a seat at the keyboard. The installation also features a figure from the Kapa Haka series (Officer Taumaha) and two small bronze olive tree saplings (Constitution Hill). Though impressive, the sculptures only come to fruition with the continual music of the Steinway piano, where five New Zealand pianists have been appointed to perform a mix of New Zealand, jazz and classical music. This space is at once turned into a tranquil space, a place to escape the hustle and bustle of Venice and be serenaded by the sweet sound of the intricately carved piano. Parekowhai’s inspiration from Keats’ poem instantly becomes apparent, transporting us to those rolling hills of Panama.
Emily Burke
Title: New Zealand: On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
Artist: Michael Parekowhai
Venue: Palazzo Loredan dell’Ambasciatore
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, a sculptural installation by Michael Parekowhai is a project based on a poem by the nineteenth-century English Romantic poet John Keats, in which he describes a Spanish adventurer climbing to the top of a hill in what is now Panama and looking out over the Pacific and surveying its potential riches for the first time. The work includes one intricately-carved Steinway concert grand piano, He Korero Purakau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: story of a New Zealand river, and two concert grands fabricated in bronze, supporting two cast bronze bulls. On one piano, A Peak in Darien, a full-size bull rests on the closed lid with its massive body supposedly suggesting the folding forms of landscape. On the other piano, Chapman’s Homer, the bull is standing firm offering an eye-to-eye challenge for anyone prepared to take a seat at the keyboard. The installation also features a figure from the Kapa Haka series (Officer Taumaha) and two small bronze olive tree saplings (Constitution Hill). Though impressive, the sculptures only come to fruition with the continual music of the Steinway piano, where five New Zealand pianists have been appointed to perform a mix of New Zealand, jazz and classical music. This space is at once turned into a tranquil space, a place to escape the hustle and bustle of Venice and be serenaded by the sweet sound of the intricately carved piano. Parekowhai’s inspiration from Keats’ poem instantly becomes apparent, transporting us to those rolling hills of Panama.
Emily Burke
Posted 8 months ago & Filed under New Zealand, Michael Parekowhai, art, LINE magazine, Venice, Venice Biennale, sculpture, Notes
