Artist heads to the US

Butter, toilet paper and tin foil reads like a grocery shopping list – but they are also the tools of the trade for Whenuapai artist Richard Maloy.

When creating his signature sculptures, Mr Maloy believes you can make art using
every day materials from around your domestic environment.

However, his local efforts are making an international impact as the first New Zealand resident to gain a three-month residency at the Headlands Centre for the Arts in California.

As the inaugural recipient of the Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust award, Mr Maloy is looking forward to joining a community of 30 artists, writers and musicians from throughout the world and picking up new ideas.

"This is a very significant event for my art practice, not only in the production of ideas and art, but also engaging with a new and exciting arts community," says the photographer, sculptor and video artist who is inspired by 1960s and 1970s conceptual and performance art.

As a research trip, Mr Maloy will get to develop new sculptural and photographic works in a communal environment which he thinks will be like taking part in an "alternative Californian art retreat".

"It is very focused on experimentation and social networking in a casual and friendly manner," he says about his residency which begins in June next year.

He is barely recognisable under layers of foil in his award-winning nine image self-portrait entitled All I Want to Be is a Sculpture, which helped contribute to his trust award.

"It is kind of like an anti-portrait," Mr Maloy says of the work representing his style of producing artworks out of everyday materials.

His sculpture is on display alongside other winning entries at the Aotea Centre until tomorrow.

Often the subject of his own creations, Mr Maloy has been covered in numerous household products, as he tries to break down the hierarchical aspects of the art world and connect with his audience.

"It has an element of watch me do it, now you give it a try," he says.

A graduate of the Auckland University Elam School of Fine Arts, Mr Maloy has exhibited in New Zealand museums, public art galleries, artist-run spaces and dealer galleries and abroad at several Australian galleries and the Bienal de São Paulo.

He has also worked as an assistant to numerous artists and galleries, including as a studio assistant to pop art pioneer Billy Apple and recently began teaching sculpture part-time back at Elam.

FULBRIGHT AWARDS

Established in 1946 by United States senator J William Fulbright, the Fulbright programme promotes international understanding through educational and cultural exchanges.

Senator Fulbright believed the programme could play an important role in building a lasting world peace in the aftermath of World War Two.

Today it is the world’s largest bi-national education programme, operating in more than 150 countries.

Since 1948 more than 1300 New Zealanders have travelled to the United States and about 1100 Americans have come to New Zealand on Fulbright awards.

Some notable Fulbrighters include:

- Former Prime Minister and ambassador Sir Wallace (Bill) Rowling

- Nobel prize-winning scientist Alan MacDiarmid

- Anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond

- Dancer Sir Jon Trimmer

- Educationalists Dame Marie Clay, Dame Jean Herbison and Anne Meade

- Historian Jamie Belich

- Judges Sir Kenneth Keith and David Baragwanath

- Maori studies scholar Wiremu Kaa

- Opera singers Iosefa Enari and Simon O’Neill

- Writers Bill Manhire, Joan Druett and Michael King.

- © Fairfax NZ News