Wolves bound for lair at Hills

Admiring the first Wolf Coming sculpture to be unpacked in Dunedin yesterday are Toll New Zealand...
Admiring the first Wolf Coming sculpture to be unpacked in Dunedin yesterday are Toll New Zealand employees (from left) Brenton Gordon-Glassford, Mike Knopp and Tony Wessels. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Chinese artist Liu Ruowang's Wolf Coming installation in Beijing. Photo supplied.
Chinese artist Liu Ruowang's Wolf Coming installation in Beijing. Photo supplied.

He was the leader of the pack.

The first sculpture in an installation featuring 110 cast-iron, life-sized wolves was unpacked in Dunedin yesterday.

Artist Liu Ruowang's Wolf Coming installation of snarling, snapping wolves encircling a Chinese warrior arrived from China on the way to its new home at The Hills golf course and sculpture park in Arrowtown.

The Hills owner Sir Michael Hill said he discovered the installation in an art district in Beijing in 2010.

"There was a big square there with a pack of 110 wolves, and a huge warrior trying to fend them off with a sword," Sir Michael said from Vanuatu yesterday.

"I was fascinated. What got me was the way people were interacting with them. The square was alive with people stroking them and pulling their tails."

The wolves were transported to Dunedin from Beijing in specially-made crates in five shipping containers aboard Hansa Salzburg.

The work would be the largest yet to be displayed at The Hills, Sir Michael said.

"No-one has ever combined modern art with a golf course before. I think it's going to be a wonderful tourist attraction."

He declined to reveal the price of the work or how much it had cost to transport.

"It was quite a significant sum."

The sculptures were trucked to Arrowtown yesterday and will be installed at The Hills by the artist, before an official unveiling by Prime Minister John Key in November.

"We think we know where we would put them, but we'll let the artist decide," Sir Michael said.

 

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