Michael Parekowhai: The Promised Land

Overview

If you've wandered past the Gallery of Modern Art over the last couple of years, you've probably noticed the elephant in the room. Well, the overturned mammoth on the front lawn by the river, to be more accurate, as commissioned to commemorate GOMA's fifth birthday.

That piece — called The World Turns — was sculpted by Michael Parekowhai. In his first-ever major Australian exhibition, the New Zealand artist returns to the gallery with a full show, The Promised Land, proving that there's more to his work than animals tipped over the wrong way.

With over 50 works on display, you can walk through more then 20 years of his art — and we really do mean walk through. In something that has to be seen to be believed, a two-storey family home has been built inside GOMA as the centrepiece of a show that also includes a large sculpture of Captain Cook, an intricately carved, functioning red Steinway grand piano and giant, kitset pick-up-sticks. Admit it, you're intrigued.

Image: He Korero Purakau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: story of a New Zealand river, 2011