Hamish Jones: A Room Full of Toys

Hamish Jones presents A Room Full Of Toys. Larger than life-size, his toys enter an adult world and explore the games grown-ups play. As large-scale toys, the works generate conversations surrounding consumer culture, mass-production and capitalist society. They are objects to be bought, collected and consumed.

Black Sheep, White Sheep talks of the manufacturing of New Zealand products and culture. The hand-carved, heavy, black Rimu sheep stands alongside his copy - shiny, pristine and glowing white. Issues surrounding genetic engineering and cloning are prevalent, conversations about New Zealand’s rural commodities are also alluded to.

Fashion, fun and the collectable nature of mass-produced toys are explored in Block Colour (Green, Blue, Red). Cut from the same mould, each work is changed slightly (but is essentially the same). Why take one when you can collect them all? A pun on the fashion term ‘block colour’, the figures wear the same colours you find in childrens’ Duplo blocks.

Ironically a tree made from sustainable pine stands in the work Deconstruction/Reconstruction. The work reminds the viewer of the commodity value of wood and the decline of the world’s natural resources, yet also celebrates its natural beauty.

Standing on display as if part of a museum collection, Jones’ dinosaurs are contemporary fossils, bringing to light the commodification of nature. Today fossils are sold, collected, and consumed, found in gift shops alongside dinosaur puzzles and souvenir tea towels.

A Room Full Of Toys shows the everyday and familiar in a new light, taking toys from the child’s bedroom into a contemporary adult world.

Hamish Jones lives in Dunedin. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Otago School of Art. His works have been in a number of shows in public galleries including The Blue Oyster. Earlier this year his work was exhibited in Sculpture In Central Otago at Rippon Vinyard, Wanaka. Jones is represented by Gallery 33 in Wanaka.

Laura Marsh: Becoming Pakeha

Laura Marsh left Dunedin, a ‘normal’, Southern, girl and now she returns as a Pakeha. Her perception has changed and it took moving to the North to realise that she isn’t the norm, but part of a distinct culture. The Trouble With Being A Proud Pakeha celebrates the unique place that is the South Island and its people.

Often traveling back and forth between the North and South Islands Marsh continually changes her position and perspective, always looking at her surroundings from the view of an outsider. She is a nomad, a mix of the North and the South. This idea is revealed in her work Home Away From Home, where images of Auckland trees have found their way onto an old family camping tarp.

Many of her works explore symbols, motifs and signifiers of the South Island. She takes everyday objects and turns them into Southern icons, such as the monumental Mount Aspiring in her work natureculturenation surrounded by lupins, which are often seen at the side of the road throughout Central Otago.

In her work The Republic of Aramoana Marsh creates souvenir collector cards that demonstrate pride of place. The cards capture Aramoana as it is today but reflects upon an important event in its history when the greater community rallied together to protest a proposed aluminum smelter.

Marsh often uses the flag in her work as a powerful sign, generating conversations about claiming a place or a presence. This is prevalent in her work Monumental where large pieces of fabric stand tall, objects of community and Nation, creating a sense of belonging.

The Trouble With Being A Proud Pakeha is that in order to truly appreciate the South from the perspective of the outsider, one has to leave.

Laura Marsh lives in Auckland and works as a full time artist. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ilam and in 2010 gained a Masters in Visual Arts from AUT. Marsh has had her work included in a number of public exhibitions including shows at St Paul Street Gallery. She has also been a finalist in the Wallace Awards.