Passing Red fills in a hole but is it true art?

(Peter Drury/WAIKATO TIMES)

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/2672904/Passing-Red-fills-in-a-hole-but-is-it-true-art

25 July 2009
By BEN STANLEY

Hamilton's arts community are, for the most part, giving the city's newest public art installation the big thumbs up.

Passing Red, which cost $150,000 and was sponsored by the Perry Foundation, was designed by Hamilton artist Gaye Jurasich.

The installation consists of five red galvanised pipes which twist and turn from each end of Mill St's V8 pit area to the other, extending 200 metres. It will be removed before the V8 Supercar racing every year, then reassembled. Art historian, heritage consultant and former Waikato Times arts reviewer Ann McEwan said the installation was a great addition to the city's public art.

Dr McEwan was part of the informal Public Art Advisory Group group that assisted in the selection of the installation, and said that Passing Red ticked all the boxes for what they were looking for in a temporary sculpture.

"The artist has done well. We wanted a temporary structure, and a really challenging sight."

"It's really organic, mobile quality. It's bright and colourful."

Dr McEwan indicated that she was keen to see the next piece of public art in Hamilton be a more permanent affair.

"I'm kind of over this drive-by public art," Dr McEwan said.

Meanwhile, Hamilton public arts advocate Mark Servian, the man behind the erection of Victoria St's Riff Raff statue in 2004, felt Passing Red was a "great decoration," but said the fact that it was only temporary detracted from its artistic value.

"It's a great piece of art but from a conceptual point of view, it's got a function," he said.

"That's quite pragmatic for a piece of art. If it's got a utility, it's not art."

He mentioned that while the installation would not "carry the same meaning" of Riff Raff or Hamilton Garden's Earth blanket, it had certainly brightened up an "empty" part of town.

"It takes up a lot of space that is otherwise empty. It takes what would otherwise be a runway."

Hamilton Community Arts Council arts manager Tracey Wood said that regardless of the installation's popularity, if people were talking about it, that was positive.

"What it does do is get people talking to their neighbour and saying" `What do you think of it?'.

"It creates debate. People learn to appreciate what's in their environment," she said.

Ms Wood personally approved of Passing Red, and thought it would be a success.

"I think the fact that it's such an evocative piece. Speed, racing, movement ... I like it."

Community arts adviser for Arts Waikato, Renee Casserly, agreed with Ms Wood.

She believed the unusual nature of Passing Red would guarantee varied responses.

"I'm a huge fan of Gaye's work but it is very conceptual and that's part of the reason it got chosen," she said.

"Not everyone's going to be able to relate to it, but in terms of making people think and getting a reaction, that's what it does."
Maverick arts commentator Graeme Cairns, however, had his own ideas on Passing Red. "It sums up the stupidity of the V8 racing well," he said.