All Along the Heaphy Highway
Artist
Bill HAMMOND (New Zealander, b.1947, d.2021)
Production date
1998
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Object Detail
Description
A surrealist landscape scene featuring a colony of bird figures perched in lofty tree branches, observing a lone car navigating a windy roadway. The painting references the controversial proposal to turn the Heaphy Track, located in the Kahurangi National Park and one of the nation's Great Walks, into a road connecting Golden Bay with the West Coast. The birds are decorated with motifs including musical scores, incribed text and city highrises, which may be read as a reference to civilsation. On the left side of the bisecting highway is a dark and veiled landscape scene, featuring spectral figures, birds and trees. This area is rendered from a high and flat perspective - in the style of 13th-14th century landscape painting - with a strong use of emerald green and irridescence along with the artist's characteristic paint drip effect.
Medium
Acrylic on unstretched canvas
Measurements
Dimensions: 1 - Painting: 1050 x 1460mm
Dimensions: 2 - Frame: 1306 x 1680mm
Dimensions: 2 - Frame: 1306 x 1680mm
Related information
Credit line
Purchased in 2010 with the assistance of Suter Patron, Sally Hunt, and the 10 x 10 Acquisition Fund
Accession number
1108
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