Gibbs Farm

Two of my favourite sculptures from Gibbs Farm:

The literature said this work by Zhan Wang (2006) was inspired by monumental office block sculptures in Beijing and feng shui landscape gardening traditions.  Wang's scholar's rock is an enlargement of the so called "Chinese miniature landscape".  In the past, people would search for an idealistic world of immortals within these landscapes.  

That sounds a bit too intellectual and arty farty for me to grasp but there was something about this sculpture that enticed and welcomed contemplation.  It mesmerised as it moved ever so gently on the water. 

From a distance this work looked like a series of small tents on the top of a rise.  It's called Sea/Sky Kaipara, made of stainless steel and glass.  The artist, Graham Bennett,  said, "I was impressed by the changing nature of the estuary (of the Kaipara Harbour) its reflections, its colours and its relationship to the sky."  I get that, I've lived on the banks of the Kaipara and if ever I'd been able to find the words to describe the harbour, I would have liked to have found those.