Untitled (Sum of the Parts)

Overview

Been to Auckland Art Gallery lately? No? Well, shame on you because you’re missing out on some impressive fluorescent light arrangements. I can already hear a myriad of dismal excuses coming forth and so I feel obliged to tell you that yes, I understand ‘fluorescent lights’ is a term you don’t usually want to hear outside of working hours and yes, your weekends have been very busy lately what with the hangovers and mediocre coffee dates.

However, those excuses are keeping you from an incredible large-scale installation by Sydney-based artist Jonathan Jones, comprising more than 80 precisely spaced fluorescent battens positioned to create dynamic plays of lights and shadow. Sure to give you more respect for your commonplace office illumination, Untitled (sum of the parts) stands 14.7 metres tall across the south wall of the Art Gallery’s North Atrium offering the kind of grand entrance that a gallery-loving normcore-esque Cinderella would dig. While the cross-hatching and chevron motifs created from the lights may appear as Western minimalism, you can tell your uppity hipster friends that for Jones, they actually refer to the traditional Aboriginal concerns of country and community – the designs were inspired by the carved patterning of Koori (south-eastern Aboriginal) shields and the markings on possum-skin cloaks. Admit it – you’ve got all sorts of the cultural feels right now.

This installation is showing until February 2015 in the North Atrium of Auckland Art Gallery.