Site 7. Simon Morris (New Zealand)
Tilt and Grow
Christchurch Botanic Gardens
4th September - 30th November 2002

Site 17. Simon Morris (New Zealand)
Stadia
Jade Stadium
30th November - 4th December 2002

Simon Morris' painting is concerned with the relationship between reality and the abstract image. For SCAPE Morris' designed an abstract scheme that appeared in locations throughout Christchurch.

The first of these works began to take shape in early May 2002. In Tilt and Grow Morris worked with Botanic Gardens staff to design and plant one of the herbaceous borders with a pattern composed from a single continuous line. The earth around the planted line was left bare, but neatly weeded; the planted line included various flowering plants such as forget-me-nots, polyanthus, and tulips, arranged to flower one after the other. Morris intended to draw attention to the quiet beauty of line rather than create vibrant colour. His pattern also recalled the line of the Avon River, looping through the orderly grid of Christchurch's streets.

Stadia was a monumental abstract painting, designed to appear in the open air. For this work, Simon Morris's 'canvas' was the playing field at Jade Stadium, and his abstract image was directly mown into the grass. Pattern and texture were created through the reflection of light from the grass. The content of the artwork was drawn from the site, responding to its architecture, its history, and its physical properties - the turf, the field markings, the position of the wicket and the edges of the field.

Using the specialist lawn-mowing technology, which has evolved for major sporting fixtures, Stadia was a true collaboration between art and industry - a creative partnership between Simon Morris and the grounds staff at Jade Stadium. Like Tilt and Grow, Morris's living work in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, Stadia involved a pattern made from one continuous line, which began and ended at the same point.

Referring to the orderly grid of the Canterbury plains viewed from the air, Stadia continued Morris's interest in developing new territory for painting in the physical landscape.

Curator: Lara Strongman