Taking his inspiration from a Roman paving technique in which broken and discarded bricks from construction sites are reused as flooring materials, Andrew Barber has re-designed a space at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Barber’s composition, Folly (stone carpet), takes up part of the Otago Daily Times Gallery and involved him spending several days masking and then painting the gallery’s wooden floorboards in a form of protest against a pervasive "she’ll be right" functionality that dominates New Zealand’s modern built environment.
Certainly, he’s no fan of linoleum floors, particularly lino patterns and textures that pretend to be something else.
"In New Zealand we have a lot of floors that are a ‘quick-fix’, I believe. For example, lino, polished wooden floors or concrete. They are relatively fast and cheap options, in comparison to older places such as in Europe, where a lot of time time might have been spent in making a really ornate floor.
"I visited a place in Italy called the House of Stone Carpets and saw a design and thought it was like crazy paving ... That particular floor design was about 2000 years old. It turned out the Romans used broken building materials to pave the ground outside a new building. It was seen as something akin to a quick fix but was pretty permanent."
Replicating that Roman design, Barber first used masking tape, ripping it up and laying it in such a way as to resemble the patterns of stone.
"It took four to five days. The tape took a while to put down. I have used some pretty serious paint, too, and it took a while for each layer to dry. It was hard work, but I’m proud of that. In contrast, laying lino takes a few hours for a professional.
"It is going to get damaged, but the idea is that as it gets chipped, more of the faux stone will be revealed. However, I don’t think it will wear in a way that looks different to how it started out."
The installation is scheduled to continue until December next year. Which begs the question: is longevity part of Barber’s artistic statement?
"Oh yeah. It has to last. For the past few years I’ve been investigating all these cheap options and attempting to make them a bit more durable."
Barber cites as a key point of reference the American artist Walter De Maria, whose six-decade career spanned four major art movements — minimalism, conceptual art, land art, and installation art — during the 20th century.
"He wanted people to think about existence. When he made works, he’d intend them to last forever. For instance, his work The Lightning Field [a 1977 installation in New Mexico exploring the relationship between art and the natural environment] utilised gold leaf. If you coat something in gold it is going to last forever.
"I’m really interested in that process. I like the idea of things lasting forever. I think art can do that. I like the idea of public art that’s not a fleeting thing.
"I think good art is forever. It transgresses fashion."
Barber’s floor-based work, which opened at the DPAG on June 19, is the latest in a series of installations exploring design solutions that arise outside a conventional art context.
It also touches on the world of the tradesperson, something with which he is familiar.
"I work as a colourist and a painter-decorator, and have done throughout my artistic career.
"You have to pay the bills. You can’t sit around waiting for one of the six collectors in New Zealand to buy something. If you are involved in any creative industry in New Zealand, you probably need a day job," Barber (39) says.
"But it all goes hand in hand. I wouldn’t have known how to make that floor if I hadn’t spent 20,000 hours painting surfaces. I’ve also worked at an art supply store and was a canvas stretcher; that’s how I learnt to paint.‘‘It all feeds into the other. I deal with paint. I’m a simple painter."
He’s being modest.
Barber’s art is held in various private and public collections, including the National Collection at Te Papa and the Chartwell Collection at the Auckland Art Gallery.
He is represented by Hopkinson Mossman Gallery in Auckland and Peter McLeavey Gallery in Wellington.
The subject of fashion somehow squirms its way into the conversation, Barker reflecting on his preference for clothes (and shoes) that can withstand the seasonal changes of taste, or simply items that won’t fall to bits after a few outings.
"I have jackets I bought 10 years ago, when I could first afford such items, and I intend on keeping them forever. It’s why I paid so much for the things. I understand they are going to last a very long time.
"That’s where I’m coming from. And this type of exhibition is indicative of that."
See it
• Andrew Barber’s Folly (stone carpet) is at the Otago Daily Times Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, until December 31, 2018.
