#664 ... Getting around Moore or Less

Sitanun navigating her way around a Henry Moore ...The Botanical Gardens, Wellington ... Henry Moore's sculpture, Bronze Form which has been in the city since 1988 .. originally placed in Midland Park, it was coated with a wax and resin to retain the original bright bronze colour. However if you have had the pleasure of seeing and touching one of Moore's sculptures in the wild, you will know that an integral part of the sculpture is the manner in which it ages in its surrounding environment. I spent a month during the winter of 1996 at Arden House Harriman, NJ and hidden in the woodlands on the hills around this gracious old world estate .. are some Henry Moore sculptures. Billy Apple is creating the debate about "less" environmental protection for the sculpture will actually create "more" ... and be a work of art as Moore anticipated.

Less Is Moore
For just 24 hours leading New Zealand artist Billy Apple presented a work in Wellington’s Botanic Gardens. This may seem an unlikely venue for an artist better known for his gallery-based conceptual text-works, objects and installations, but Apple is seeking to draw attention to Henry Moore’s iconic sculpture, Bronze Form, a landmark well-known to Wellingtonians.

He has decided to undertake this in response to an invitation from the Adam Art Gallery to present a project as part of One Day Sculpture, a New Zealand-wide series of temporary public art works initiated by the Litmus Research Initiative at Massey University working with British-based curator, Claire Doherty.

Apple’s Less is Moore however, is not designed as a confrontation between two very different artists, but rather as an opportunity to reconsider the fate of sculpture in public space and to turn attention to the context where it is located.


ONE DAY SCULPTURE
Billy Apple®
LESS IS MOORE
Saturday 28 March 2009
Salamanca Lawn, Botanic Gardens, Wellington

Read about Arden House Arden Estate
Located in the Town of Woodbury, New York, Arden House was completed in 1909 by E.H. Harriman. The house was built at the highest point on Mount Orama, with commanding views of the Hudson Highlands in all directions, an area OSI has been actively protecting for decades, conserving more than 25,000 acres. The Arden House property has important conservation value with extensive open spaces including a lake and distinct rocky outcroppings visible for miles around.