Artwork Details

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body, hands, moulding, video, weight, yellow

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As Many Structures As I Can

ArtistRichard Maloy
Production Date2008
MediumDVD
Size45min
ClassificationAudiovisual
DepartmentNew Zealand Art
Accession Date02 Sep 2009
Accession NoC2009/1/25/6
Credit LineChartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2009

Chartwell Notes

Notes from http://www.artistsalliance.org.nz

In 'As Many Structures As I Can' the artist is found moulding butter with his bare hands, making sculptural forms from the hardened substance. As it slowly softens with body heat we see the malting material become harder to control, no longer can the material be manipulated and the simple task becomes impossible. Throughout the sequence, a direct relationship between the physical nature of the material, the artist's hands, and the physical act of art-making is played out as the butter slowly warms, melds together and is flipped and flopped into different forms.

'As Many Structures As I Can' was made during Maloy's residency at Artspace, Sydney in 2008.

The work was made possible with the help of a Creative New Zealand Professional Practice Grant and was first shown as part of Maloy's solo show‘Yellow Grotto Raw Material' at Sue Crockford Gallery in Auckland 2008.

Maloy is an Auckland based artist who works in a range of media including video, photography, sculpture and installation. His video works generally have a strong performance element and act as a type of private action made public, which often feature a singular figure taking part in the creative process. Maloy graduated in 2001 with a Masters in Fine Arts from The University of Auckland and has exhibited widely in New Zealand art museums, public art galleries, artist run spaces and dealer galleries. In 2009 Maloy was awarded the inaugural Fulbright Wallace Award, and in 2010 he travelled to the US as a visiting Fulbright Scholar, completing an artist's residency at the Headlands Centre of the Arts, San Francisco.