Akward
oil on timber and aluminum
120 X 157 X 8 cm
Awkward is a work deeply rooted in the evolution of NZ tourism storey. The name Maoriland came about in 1860 as an alternative name for New Zealand as a way to promote tourism and was a name chosen as the cable address for the Department of Tourism and Health Resorts in 1901. Other countries would offer up their tourist attractions of mountains, coast lines, rivers and lakes, but only NZ can claim the unique Maori culture as its own, Maoriland was born.
European New Zealanders were keen to exploit this unique situation in the tourism sector with the establishment of a number of tourist destinations, operations and establishments, luring, cajoling tourists to visit.
Now Maoriland is just a cheap theme park, commercialised, monetized, and Europeanised. The taking of someone else’s culture as if it were a curiosity for the express purposes of wealth extraction and exploitation.
Price:
USD 5500
Stardust
oil on timber and aluminum
136 X 168 X 14 cm
"Stardust" was inspired by the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning. The sign is made up but I wanted to explore the juxtaposition between the middle class whites only drive in, and a film about the worst of racism in America's south.
Price:
SOLD
Hussongs
oil on timber and aluminum
45 X 76 X 44 cm
Hussongs, Ensenada. A character Mexican bar, full of Americans and some Mexicans. Complete with mariachi players, a crash of cultures, with the prevailing culture being American. I overheard one conversation by Mexican police telling Mexican locals in english to behave and to leave the Americans alone as their money was important than theirs.
Price:
SOLD
Best in Show
oil on timber and aluminum
176 X 123 X 8 cm
I often create my own brands and imagery but this was to valuable just to drive by. The Pink Poodle was a sign I saw in the Gold Coast Highway in the mid 90's. I thought it was stunning, a statue to kitsch.
Trends come and go and it's the same with holiday destinations or places to stay. What might have been a hot destination in the 50s and 60s, has now been bypassed for something new that's perceived to be better.
In the early 2000's, the Pink Poodle was demolished. I thought the sign would be lost, and all that would be left is the three dimensional painting of what had been there before. Someone saved the sign, the community were keen to have it put back in the place where it once stood. A monument, a memorial to the icons of kitsch returned.
Price:
SOLD
Nite Owl Diner
oil on timber and aluminum
162 X 122 X 9 cm
"Nite Owl" Diner is that dirty little all night diner in downtown city any where. It's mythical but yet they exist in every major city in the US. They are the unofficial office for criminals lording over their exclusive domains of the downtown. The scenes of business activity and the occasional homicide.
Price:
SOLD
Comet
oil on timber and aluminum
1390 X 170 X 12 cm
"Comet" is mythical sign. There are plenty of Comet picture theaters but it needed to be a more heroic sign, to make a statement well beyond the actual reality.
To nights viewing is Roger Donaldson's "The World's Fastest Indian" and is about Burt Munroe's vision to break and set land speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Its an uplifting story about being on the down side of advantage, having a dream and fulfilling that dream on a world stage.
Both the film and Comet are offerings to the mythical gods of speed.
Price:
USD 6500
Paramount
oil on timber and aluminum
133 X 177 X 8 cm
"Paramount" Idaho Falls. The sign is the exotic link back to Hollywood and Paramount Pictures. In the 30's Paramount Pictures set up theaters though out the US to ensure the distribution of their latest offerings.
However, when the big movie distributors found themselves in financial troubles in the late 1960's, they turned over the movie making business to the directors. This gave birth to the director driven era of the late 60's and early 70's and a new worthy art form.
Price:
USD 6500
The Dirty Bird
oil on timber and aluminum
160 X 102 X 9 cm
Americana gave the western world hope, optimism and a chance at some of that prosperity. We all bought in to that one, not just the tangible but the ideology as well, "I'll have a slice of that pie"Invitations to treat were expressed in neon, accessed by your automobile, but just like "the Dirty Bird" they built a new inter-state that bi-passed that Diner and built an anonymous plastic road house in its place. The old signs still remain and are beerly working, rusted and decayed, just limping on. Are there any vital signs?
Price:
SOLD
The Prophets Den
oil on timber and aluminum
60 X 35 X 75 inch
This is the quintessential Aussie rural pub. Every town has one. There may not be much else in the town but there is always a pub, a service station and maybe a general store.
The Telegraph Hotel is where pub politics and spin is social liberty, lubricated schooners. Funny one liners roll off the tongue, make you the one to be most admired or the profound prophets or poets of your time. A yarn was a good thing. A daily event over a schooner or two and where you could drive home drunk afterwards.
It became the haven for the prophet, opinionated, without kindness or thought, verbalised in the bar and written on the toilet walls. This is a fading social ritual, a place belonging to the past, now we do it on social media.
Price:
SOLD
Sermon of Razor Wire
oil on timber and aluminum
73 X 140 X 7 cm
"Sermon of Razor Wire" is the humble neon sign that is an invitation to treat or inform. It pervaded all corners of our society, even the most conservative of domains, the church. But in this case, does the church go too far? Does it take the sign to further drive its own ideology and mantra at the expense of minorities? Does it take freedom of speech and turn it into hate speech? What happens if you take a church sign and mirror it back? Will it revolt us? Is this the dark mirror?
Price:
SOLD
Urban Valhalla
oil on timber and aluminum
90 X 38 X 64 cm
Forbes Bar and Pool Hall is located in Idaho Falls. The sign says it all, rusting, decayed, and limping on in the seedy part of town, of any town for that matter.
Forbes asks more questions than it provides answers. Why do these places exist? Who frequents them? Why do they frequent them? Is it a place where our idio cultures, our tribes thrive when they are disenfranchised from the rest of community?
Is it a social setting where they can go, show their own pool playing prowess on their own terms, their own rules in their own tribes? And when the rules are not adhered to then another form of combat ensues. Do they become warrior of the pool hall?
Never mind Valhalla in the afterlife, is this Urban Valhalla for the living?
Price:
USD 3500
Second Amendment
oil on timber and aluminum
96 X 145 X 8 cm
The second amendment, the right to bear arms, intrigue of the gun morphed into an obsession. "Second Amendment" explores the tension and the self imposed isolation of the Branch Dravidians and the government. The Dravidians practiced their beliefs, railed against what they saw society had become and their government too.
On the other side is the government, represented by the ATF. Concerned about what was going on within the compound, decided to enter with force. The ATF were ill prepared for what they met, resulting in loss of life. A 50 day standoff ensued.
Word of the siege got out. A whole community of RV's spring up around the compound to watch events unfold as if it were entertainment.
An impatient ATF made the decision to ram the building and go in. The ATF only got as far as putting holes into the building. The Branch Dravidians incinerated themselves, over 50 people perished under the vicissitudes of its own culture of fear. The spoils of victory were nothing more than ashes in ATF hands.
This had to the ultimate in obsession on both sides, the ultimate madness.
Successive US governments have cultivated fear within its population. Fear of communism, fear of fascism, fear of terrorism, fear of Muslims, fear of Russians, fear of Chinese, fear of North Koreans, fear of Mexicans, fear of your nieghbour, fear of the man in the street, fear of police, fear of the queer, fear of the black man across the road, fear, fear, fear into the dying light.
Price:
SOLD
Credit Crunch
oil on timber and aluminum
122 X 140 X 34 cm
Credit Crunch was the first name given to the GFC. When I first heard the name, it sounded like breakfast cereal to me. However, the more the GFC unfolded; the more problematic I found the situation and how did the situation develop into this?
The whole event was problematic but how does one convey a global financial crisis in an art work? In the end the answer was obvious. Take the first name given and develop it as a bill board, just a the financial services sector packaged its products.
"Credit Crunch" is an invitation to treat, a life style, yummy things to start the day with the promise of "it's got to be good for you" all wrapped up in a bill board. There is also the promise of the under writers and independent credible assessors. This work should ask a lot questions about trust, dependability and its duplicity.
Price:
USD 6500
Credit Squeeze
oil on timber and aluminum
121 X 140 X 36 cm
This the second name given to the GFC. The premise of this piece is the same as Credit Crunch.
Credit Squeeze was the second name given to the GFC. The word squeeze is a very loaded word and the unfolding crisis that followed. However, the more the GFC crises deepened; the more problematic I found the situation and how did this situation develop into this?
The financial services sector took their products, bundled and packaged them as if it were just another fast moving consumer item to be bought from the shelf of the supermarket. To give the financial products more credibility, they were underwritten, endorsed by credible financial institutions, some of whom are not with us today.
This work should ask a lot questions about trust, dependability and its duplicity.
Price:
USD 6500
Wham
oil on timber and aluminum
121 X 140 X 35 inch
This is the story of how anybody can become President, even in the face of deceit, duplicity and manipulation. When he got caught out on that deceit, he simply doubled down and called fake news.
This is the moment when the lines between truth and fiction became blurred. I realized that at this point voters only see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, rationalize what they want to rationalize. This can be remedied by a new product, store bought, Trump endorsed and it's called "Wham" and all that filth is gone.
Price:
USD 6000
Bel-Air
oil on timber and aluminum
102 X 155 X 8 cm
"Bel Air" is a metaphor for the American Dream. Americana popular culture leak into this country along with the prevailing mythical about it. We are told about the many benefits, but are we told the full story? The work as an investigation into the myth, an uncovering of substance and evidence; a hunt for the full story; sometimes the inconvenient truth, a truth we just want to drive by.
I want to shine a light where this popular culture prefers shade.
Price:
SOLD
When
oil on timber and aluminum
97 X 122 X 8 cm
"When" was a piece inspired by the Florida school shootings. The kids themselves protested for change and more gun control. However there doesn't seem to be any great political will for change. This issue seems so deeply cultural and that an amendment is cast in iron. Is this the tyranny of the minority over the majority?
Gosford Anglican Church captured the sentiment just so incredibly well. I thought it was worth reflecting back.
Price:
USD 5500
Miami
oil on timber and aluminum
90 X 140 X 9 cm
The word "Motel" came about in 1928 in California. The then new owner of this new establishment could not fit the word motor hotel on his sign. He compromised and put the word Motel instead. Now the motel was born.
There was a proliferation of motels across the US, cheap places to stay, all accessed by the motor vehicle. They were also bound by another myth, the name it's self, Miami in the middle of New Mexico, or Surfers Paradise, or Kohimarama, Auckland
I always loved the way the exotic was always placed amongst the un-exotic, a deserted wilderness, a desert or an uninhabited industrial wasteland. The Miami Motel was a place to seek refuge in the exotic for a night.
Price:
SOLD
Futura
oil on timber and aluminum
88 X 164 X 9 cm
The Lincoln Futura was a concept car bought out in 1955 that pointed to the future. It never materialized. The dream was just too big, even for Ford.
The proliferation of motels continued through the 30's and 40's all with exotic names in the unlikeliest places. When that dream ended, they became cheap run down bolt holes for the most disadvantaged in our society, only to be replaced by the anemic Holiday Inn, the Comfort Inn and Best Western.
Established as a brand for the future, innovation, hope and prosperity. But then the new interstate past you by, sapping the prosperity out of the region only to be replaced by a new corporate interstate accommodation like the Comfort Inn.
Price:
SOLD
Last Chance Pegasus
oil on timber and aluminum
18 X 23 X 42 cm
The Pegasus Motor Spirit sign, used to be a common sight on any major highway in America. The logo was officially adopted by Mobilegas as its official trademark in 1931. In 1968, Mobile adopted Pegasus service stations. The symbol is still used
Price:
USD 950
Shell Bay
oil on timber and aluminum
49 X 18 X 18 cm
Trends come and go. Sometimes it's the same with holiday destinations. It may have been a hot destination in the 50's and 60's but it's not now, bi-passed for a perceived something better.
There is also something about taking a well known iconic brand, bastardizing it to meet the motels needs.
Price:
USD 950
Futura Motel
oil on timber and aluminum
46 X 24 X 18 cm
The Lincoln Futura was a concept car bought out in 1955 that pointed to the future. It never materialized. The dream was just too big, even for Ford.
The proliferation of motels continued through the 30's and 40's all with exotic names in the unlikeliest places. When that dream ended, they became cheap run down bolt holes for the most disadvantaged in our society, only to be replaced by the anemic Holiday Inn, the Comfort Inn and Best Western.
Established as a brand for the future, innovation, hope and prosperity. But then the new interstate past you by, sapping the prosperity out of the region only to be replaced by a new corporate interstate accommodation like the Comfort Inn.
Price:
USD 950
MIA in MIQ
oil on timber and aluminum
198 X 120 X 9 cm
This work explores the government facilities of managed isolation and quarantine due to the Covid 19 pandemic. No one could come into the country without a two week internment into a quarantine facility. It became a political football of many contradictions. New Zealanders became stranded overseas, separated families and stateless.
To enter into an MIQ facility, you needed to enter into the state lottery draw. This seemed to create a feeling of unfairness. Fairness and fair play is an underlining core value of most New Zealanders. It left most New Zealanders feeling safe from Covid but 5 Million people were trapped alive.
Price:
SOLD
Left Right Out
oil on timber and aluminum
140 X 160 X 9 cm
The work questions persistent conceptions around what Democracy is and isn’t, largely due to perceptions gained from social media. It asks us to confront the messaging; to look behind the curtains, to see the shadows; to ingest popular and unpopular; the familiar and unfamiliar – to confront the message when we just want to drive by.
Price:
USD 9500
Siesta
oil on timber and aluminum
176 X 120 X 8 cm
Siesta Inn, Ensenada, Mexico. I had never quite understood the reach of Americana until I was in Mexico. From a visual stand point, it was like being in Southern California. It was as American as it could be except the the food was distinctly Mexican. The Americana reach was more extensive than I had appreciated.
Cheap motels for cheap tourists in Ensenada, Mexico. Well that’s, the sort of place it had become. Low budget, low cost, and low hygiene. There is no doubting that accommodation is always bypassed by the next bright, shiny new thing. Economies are always dynamic.
Price:
USD 8000
Milburn's Meat
oil on timber and aluminum
110 X 140 X 8 cm
The scene of where Americana meets Kiwiana, Mosgiel, Dunedin. The sign had seen better days, rust and decay but the bull was still handsome. Cost was not an issue when this sign was created, which more often than not was always an issue when creating signs in neon in New Zealand.
Price:
USD 6000
Masonic Hotel
oil on timber and aluminum
74 X 145 X 8 cm
The Masonic is an art deco hotel built after Napier earth quakes. It is such a beautiful art deco sign, pride of the new phoenix rising out of the ground but become the poet’s corner, the centre of pub politics.
Price:
USD 6000
Four Square
oil on timber
120 X 63 X 5 cm
4 Square emerged in our landscape in the late forties and adorned buildings for the next 40 years. In the eighties, nineties the iconic Mr. 4 square disappeared until it was revived back into being around 2010.
My Mr. 4 Square captures the iconic imagery at the time it was disappearing in the mid nineties.
Price:
NZD 4400
Watt Up!
oil on timber and aluminum
70 X 103 X 5 cm
I captured the Wattie’s on a dairy in Herne Bay, Auckland. It was starting to become a ghost sign and I felt it needed to be captured and celebrated before it completely disappeared off the old timber wall.
Price:
NZD 3500
Subscribe
EN
ES
FR
DE
