When old art is resurrected
If one of the functions of art is to help people see things in an entirely fresh way, Tatzu Nishi’s installation in front of the NSW Art Gallery is a raging success.
Nishi has constructed two rooms around two large (and these days often ignored) public sculptures outside the Gallery. Both are equestrian bronze works by Gilbert Bayes, completed in 1926. Outside, the rooms look like construction sites. Inside you find a finished modern lounge room built around the upper parts of The Offerings of Peace; and a bedroom built around The Offerings of War.
Peace is transformed to a large bust with outstretched arm adorning a coffee table, while a nearby cupboard contains the head of the horse. War becomes a very large horse and rider climbing onto twin beds beneath a chandelier in the ceiling, both perfectly surreal.
The work was brought here by John Kaldor, who was notably responsible for Christo’s wrapping of Little Bay in 1969 and Jeff Koons’ giant Puppy in 1995. A 40-year history of his projects is on display downstairs inside the Gallery.
“This work enables people to see reality in a completely different way,” he said of the current work, War and peace and in between.
“It brings attention to these works which are probably ignored as people enter the Gallery. They become transfigured, surreal.”
He is correct. Once this work is viewed, the bronze statues will never look the same. Tatzu Nishi, 49, is Japanese but lives and works in Berlin, specialising in such installations. He built a functioning 5-star hotel around a statue of Queen Victoria for the 2002 Liverpool Biennial in the UK, where visitors were invited to “spend the night with Queen Victoria.”
by Michael Gormly
