Bing dawe
Titipounamu is part of a long series of Dawe’s past works which come under the collective title, ʻA Landscape With Too Many Holes’. The work represents a ‘necklace’ where one side shows the delicate rifleman bird and the other side shows the holes left in the landscape by the decline of the species. Dawe says the sculpture is about “the balance of the negative and positive of things. As we celebrate and appreciate what we have, we must remind ourselves to be ever-vigilant of what we have lost.”
A keen fisherman, Bing Dawe’s work often reveals the detail and materials of associated activities: the nets, favoured catches and threats to the environment, water degradation and endangered species. His sculptures and works on paper capture a sense of the intimate association between humanity and the natural world, and the artist’s respect and concern for its future.
Dawe studied at the University of Canterbury, graduating with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1976. His work was the subject of a major survey exhibition at the Christchurch public art gallery in 1999, and Dawe was the winner of the Wallace Art Award that same year.
Source: Our Auckland
Under a Night Sky – Aoraki the mountain Waitaki the river - the fish Galaxiidae, 2015
From the series Dowsing and Divining – from the family Galaxiidae (Kokopu), 2010
Titipounamu – A Necklace with Lost Gems, 2015