To brush the obvious, first I am spitting tacks that i am not a part of this publication given that I named Enjoy a “Public Art Gallery” and my body of work.. however I am retrained by my nobility of good to see others doing well, or doing something. Which leaves my response… Generally it was like a series of walls talking to other walls about being in fields they know nothing about.. I mean honestly the language was about as convincing as a Porsche driver describing their meeting with Work and Income New Zealand. Machine parts talking about machine parts.

Only Harold Grieves solid journalistic tact gave me anything that resembled information. Grieves article on the social perceptions around Christchurch’s suburbs introduced to me fantastically relevant notions such as new suburbs being places of ” pre-emptive transforamtions(s) of social life into a form of affective labor.” DAMN RIGHT and we know it. Making Tina Barton’s (wait for it, hear the axe grind) acoustically ringing ” hello i am a robot let me introduce you to the correct way, oh here it is “sculpture for our moment a new mode of public art that is attuned to its times and aware of its history..” and all viewable from inside the walls of a gallery near you. Did i need to mention Barton’s a historian and runs a gallery.

Hmm, while hardly wearing their points on their sleeves, Public Good goes beyond stating nothing, to leave brilliance to be narrative and romantic, Rachel O’neill contemporary art in the form of a poem, has nice images and is anxious enough to make me believe her that she’d put up a struggle if asked to swallow shit, or would she.. I don’t know, poets right they are patronized, cultivated.. I hear the rustle of spring clippings, . There’s a nice story about an imaginary eel living in side a water bed when memories of child hood attack a young beautiful lingerie model. Definitely a high light.

I don’t know the tone is snooty, It’ s full of grand self gratifying statements. The bad bits are like a group of white khaki wearing adventurers moving out to conquer foreign knowledge/space with poetic observation. Another would be the heart felt introspection dabbling in social commentary ( that i have a weakness for, who doesn’t, thanks car ad’s and their appropriation of music that was good). And finally that one journalistic pose.. The little red book to arm and inform what public is does scratch at it, SO YAY. I NO COMPLAIN. What’s impt , is the list of people contributing, where they are from what machine/school they are maintaining and what they are avoiding saying.

Long live the WeB.

Tao Wells