Artist Sydney defaces own work

Artist Grahame Sydney has defaced prints of one of his most famous paintings and is selling them to raise money to fund protest group Save Central's fight against wind-farm development in Central Otago.

Sydney, a strong opponent of wind farms being built in Central Otago, is president of the Save Central group.

The 760mm by 1520mm defaced prints of Timeless Land had turbines painted in blood red, graffiti-style, across the landscape to emphasise the viciousness of wind-farm proposals, Sydney said.

He came up with the idea of defacing one of his own artworks "as a way of delivering the extent to which I feel the whole energy push is an insult to landscapes - especially ones I love the most, and the feeling that we have to make better decisions than this because the change to landscapes supposedly of a temporary nature, result in permanent damage, and there are better ways".

He felt the same symbolic power in the vandalising of his painting, Sydney said.

"Paintings grow out of love and respect and a sense of importance that such things matter. So, to wilfully lacerate them is symbolic of what we think those proposals [would] do to real landscapes."

He was anxious to point out that his actions were not meant as comment on any particular case, but were about the landscape and energy use in general.

Save Central, a group formed to fight any unwanted development in Central Otago, was shamelessly looking to people who agreed with its sentiments to buy one of the 1000 limited copies available as a print, he said.

The group was looking to carry on its appeal against Project Hayes when hearings resumed in January and was looking for financial support.

The prints cost $35 delivered and for $50 punters could have their print inscribed and signed by Sydney.

They are available online at the Save Central website. Sydney painted Timeless Land in 1992.

The original is now part of a private collection.