Artists' recreation of P lab 'not meant to shock'

A P lab will be installed in central Dunedin this week.

The installation by Christchurch artists Roger Boyce and Marie-Claire Brehaut is part of an exhibition being unveiled at the Blue Oyster Project Art Space.

"Nature Morte" features an accurate recreation of a P lab, complete with acid bottles, syringes and a distillation stack.

"The choice of a P lab, as subject, is not meant to shock," Boyce, a University of Canterbury art school lecturer, said.

"The subject matter does generate some charged friction but, on the other hand, nothing human is alien to fictional depiction."

"The P lab installation was mirrored by a representational painting, which revealed "the clandestine nature of the artist's studio", Boyce said.

"We've taken the tradition of still-life and the idea of memento mori, which is a reminder of mortality, and given it an update through the creation of a still-life tableaux, which is a P lab," he said.

"Obviously it's not a real P lab, as we haven't used actual chemicals, but it's a slavish copy of a domestic P lab assembled on a dressing table. It's accurate down to its acid bottles, Drano container, syringes and a distillation stack."

The exhibition opens at the Blue Oyster Project Art Space at 5.30pm on Tuesday, August 10, and runs until September 4.

- nigel.benson@odt.co.nz