A new Dunedin gallery is giving multi-disciplinary artist John Ward Knox a chance to showcase his latest project. Rebecca Fox discovers there is a little madness in the Frances Hodgkins Fellow's determination to get his message across.
The old adage about starving for your art resonates more vividly with artist John Ward Knox since he sank his savings into having ''smoko break'' rubbish cast in gold.
He has had a cigarette butt, crushed bottle top and a lump of chewing gum covered in precious metal.
But that is not all. He is going to throw the gold objects away on Dunedin streets on the day his exhibition opens.
''I'm going into a ridiculous amount of personal debt for this project. It's an act of supreme idiocy.
''There is no financial recompense for what I'm doing.''
Despite that, Mr Ward Knox is passionate about what the project says.
''The value I see is in recontexturising very ordinary pieces of human rubbish.''
The idea came to him after seeing the rubbish left behind on the ground after a class had a ''smoko break'' outside his studio space.
''I get inspired by what's around you.''
So he collected the objects, lacquered them so they would withstand the casting process and sent them off to a jeweller to cast.
How much it cost, he would only say: ''I'll be in debt for months''.
There were three basic actions, the ''holy trinity'', required to sustain humans: drinking, eating and breathing, he said.
He saw the three gold objects as representing imbibing, masticating and inhaling.
''We've taken basic principles and turned them into ways to enjoy ourselves, processes that are addictive: alcohol, smoking and chewing.''
Those thoughts then tied in with his discovery of Dunedin's history since coming here from Auckland as the Frances Hodgkins Fellow.
''Dunedin was funded by people who searched for gold but since then the city has changed considerably.''
In central Dunedin the focus was more on businesses which fed those addictions, with people seen searching for cigarette butts, he said.
Unless a member of the public stumbled across one of the ''lost'' pieces, the only proof of them would be in a photograph on display at the new Dunedin gallery State of Princes.
''I'm very excited about it. It's a hybrid of the traditional dealer model and artist-run space with elements of both.''
'He did not want to put the ''rubbish'' on display in the gallery as he believed the value was in their ''potential''.
''This way they exist almost as a myth or story. They have more value as a story than as an object, which links back to pre-European New Zealand history.''
He had no expectation of what would happen to the ''rubbish''.
''If people find one, good for them. If they don't, it's not a concern of mine.''
Mr Ward Knox had completed a similar project in Auckland, having cast a coin in gold and carried it until someone asked for change.
''I gave it to him and did not tell him it was gold.
''He probably spent it on booze and cigarettes.''
His fellowship project involves creating a wooden floor which responded to a person's presence, which he hoped to have complete by March next year.
State of Princes was the brainchild of artist and framer Craig Freeborn and photographer Justin Speirs.
The new gallery would provide a fresh perspective on contemporary art, Mr Freeborn said.
The pair hoped to meet the demand for opportunities to show contemporary art in its ''widest form''.
''We believe that some critical artists aren't being exhibited here or aren't being shown in the right context for their practice.''
With support and encouragement from Patrick Rainsford at Raven Press, ''the wheels were in motion'', Mr Freeborn said.
''We are particularly interested in utilising the profusion of contemporary artists currently based in Dunedin and exhibiting them alongside equally interesting artists from throughout New Zealand, and occasionally from overseas.''
It was hoped it would bring contemporary art which ''was seldom seen outside major Australasian cities'' to Dunedin.
''We will be exhibiting compelling, thought-provoking and highly collectable visual artists across many mediums.''
They also hoped offer a programme involving artists working with sound and experimental music.
''To have their work documented and reviewed in ways more traditionally associated with visual arts.''
The first exhibition would also feature Auckland artist James Cousins and Dunedin artist Saskia Leek.
