It is a complicated job with over 13,500 tiles, and this first tile put in to place sets the grid line for the rest of the artwork.
Peata Larkin is a contemporary Maori artist currently living in Auckland. She was born in Rotorua and is of Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue and Tūwharetoa descendant.
Larkin is an artist who plays with interactions of light and shadow and the space an artwork occupies, weaving an elaborate spatial tapestry of pattern, colour and texture with strong references to Maori history, art history and genealogy. A fundamental aspect of her work is repetition and she has exploited all its qualities of harmony and order and then added scale to the matrix in order to create this very significant artwork.
An render of the future terracotta tile artwork, which will be a 105 meter long, and 32 meter high wall wrapping the northern edge of the NZICC.
“I wanted to create an artwork that described the multiple waterways and fertile soil Tāmaki Makaurau (and Aotearoa) possesses, as well as connect strongly and aesthetically to Sara Hughes’ glasswork. I wanted to soften the long wall and achieved this by creating an undulated geometric pattern inspired by traditional Maori weaving; a subtle three dimensional presence that would visually change dependent on the angle it was viewed from,” says Mrs Larkin.
Approximately 13,500 terracotta tiles in eight different colours will form a complementary relationship with the 105 meter long, 7 meter wide laneway, and aims to soften and add movement and life to what would have been a straight plain wall.
This plan is only for one level of the NZICC, and shows just how intricate and complicated the installation work will be for the team on the ground.
