Work: Pipus Esmonde Roadaidae
Year: 2007
Construction: Recycled PVC pipes and Halogen lights
Description:
Pipus Esmonde Roadaidae is a colony of pipes that has been resettled at Brick Bay. The brightly coloured work is composed of a variety of sizes and types of pipes that have been ‘rescued’ by the artist. Such ‘pipe rescue missions’ have been made possible by a cultivated co-existence between the artist and the Fletcher Construction Company.
Composition and site awareness play a critical role in balancing the continued life of this displaced colony. It is nestled into one of the deepest areas of the bush on the Brick Bay trail. In this intimate setting the aggressively ‘un-natural’ family Pipus Esmonde Roadaidae twinkles in response to the varying levels of natural light in its bush habitat. Two lei threaded from the keyhole pieces cut from this little gathering, welcome and farewell us - Haere mai and Haere ra - as we pass through the village.
By day the installation relies on low levels of natural light. But on bright sunny days the sun shines over the pipe surfaces, casting loopy spotted shadows – across the ground, through the foliage – shadowy angles that stretch and lengthen over the daylight hours. Visitors to Brick Bay typically encounter the work by day, but by night the colony is alight with an almost alien intensity. The pools of light shining through the perforated surfaces of the pipes, transform them into a glowing electric constellation. Brydee Rood herself describes the experience as ‘luminous asparagus stalks with Swiss cheese plastic surfaces and puddles of glowing colour’*.
These plastic utilitarian objects, PVC pipes salvaged from Auckland construction sites, are man-made and are the stuff of waste and infrastructure. In their natural bush setting they speak of the introduction of new species and remind us of the value of the natural environment and of the importance of protecting indigenous species.
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