'Twist' wins No8 wire contest

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

RE-WIRED: Murray Swan's winning piece Wood'n Post, which he dedicated to his wife.

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A Pukekohe artist who has never won a competition finally broke his duck last week.

Murray Swan was presented with the Fieldays No8 Wire National Art Award for his piece Wood'n Post at a ceremony at Waikato Museum in Hamilton last Thursday and he said it was totally unexpected.

"There were such wonderful works there [that] I didn't feel like I was in the running," Swan said.

"What some people had done with it was incredible."

The brief for artists was to create a sculpture predominantly from the old Kiwi-favourite No8 wire and judge Karl Chitham said Swan's "clever twist" was what made his piece successful.

Swan took the image of the fence and post and "reversed the structure" by making the post out of wire and the fence out of wood.

He said it was the first thing that came to mind when considering the medium, but because it seemed so obvious he rang around to confirm it had not been done before.

Mr Chitham was impressed with the originality.

"The work demonstrates a real engagement with the physical and conceptual possibilities of the iconic number-eight wire and it also shows a clever twist on the use and reading of the medium," he said.

Creating the imitation of a rural setting put Swan outside his comfort zone because his usual style was sharp, shiny, abstract sculptures made of titanium or stainless steel.

"The difficult part was ... this had to be more rustic, so I had a bit of conflict there," he said.

"Once I got into it, I started realising I had to leave gaps and little holes and I was quite pleased at the end how it came out."

Winners

1st: Murray Swan (Pukekohe) Wood'n Post – $4000

2nd: William Jameson (Napier) Wireless Connections – $1500

3rd (shared): Rose Petterson (Wellington) Tree of Knowledge – $500

Philippus Meier (Hastings) Ball of Wire – $500

Other prizes include The Fieldays President Award and the Peoples' Choice Prize, which will be awarded to the artist who receives the most public votes during the course of the exhibition.

The finalists' work will be on show at ArtsPost, Hamilton, until June 28.

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