The Best of Wearable Art
from the Montana New Zealand Wearable Art Awards
19 November 1999 - 27 February 2000
Elegance, sexuality, technology, nature, science fiction, history - the influences on
the works in this exhibition are as varied as they are fantastic. They take the senses by
storm and leave the intellect craving more. They are fabulous, found-object,
fibre-frenetic fun.
Created in 1987 by sculptor Suzie Moncrieff, the Wearable Art Awards have put Nelson on
the international cultural map. It is the one icon of Kiwi culture, of Kiwi ingenuity,
which can rival rugby (allow me this small exaggeration!) in the passion and attention it
provokes.
The Montana New Zealand Wearable Arts is not about high fashion - though many of the
works far outstrip the standards of Parisian haut couture in beauty. Neither is it about
high art - though some will find the works more palatable in the Art Gallery setting than
the most expensive pile of bricks. No! When you pare away the hyperbole it is about having
a go........the same ethic that won the Americas Cup........the same belief that beats in
every Kiwi heart that I am as good as the next person and, given the diminished value of
the New Zealand Dollar, a whole lot more imaginative and resourceful than most.
A youthful passion for the Jetsons grows into adulthood; an unaccountable excess of
Telecom handsets or CD discs; a West Coast passion for driftwood and natural fibres; the
brazen, brutal femininity of Zena - weird and diverse are the fuels that fire the passions
of these designers. Dried sausage skins, paua shells, car parts, flax and plastic are de
rigeur. The unforgettable papier mache creations of Donna Demente guarantee her
immortality - who would have dreamed that this humble material, shaped by many of us in
childhood around balloons (for some long, and thankfully, forgotten purpose), could be so
successfully moulded in evocative, dreamlike beauty.
The exhibition has evolved over 2 years. Brought to the public first by Te Papa as Off
The Body and Onto The Wall the exhibition benefited from the addition of some of the more
spectacular pieces from the 1998 Awards when it opened last summer at Auckland Museum. The
exhibition when it arrives in Christchurch from Dunedin will be enormously enhanced by the
addition of three new works from the recent 1999 Awards. One of these - Superminx, a
fantastic, feline creation of twin animated thrones made of possum fur, velvet, lycra and
plywood, will be on show by special and exclusive arrangement for the opening days of the
exhibition only.
The exhibition, to be opened by Suzie Moncrieff, will be a multi-media, son-et-lumiere
spectacular. For anyone who has seen Craig Potton's book, Wearable Art, Design for the
Body, the exhibition will be an absolute must. For those fortunate few who have attended
one or more of the Awards shows this exhibition will be a breathtaking overview of these
annual Nelson events. For everyone else (who knows?) the exhibition may in time become a
cherished memory. In today's world even Todd Blackadder can only see it in Nelson, like
every other Kiwi. In tomorrow's world Montana New Zealand Wearable Arts Awards, conqueror
of this global culture, may become an international event on the scale of Mardi Gras.
Ronnie Kelly
This exhibition was held at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in the Botanic Gardens.
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