Peter Lange
Brick Corkscrew, 2009 Brick
4200 x 1930 x 560mm
Collection of Brick Bay
A blend of art and wine entwined, Peter Lange’s Brick Corkscrew is self explanatory: it epitomises the experience at Brick Bay Wines and Sculpture Trail. The ‘people friendly’ nature of Lange’s work invites physical interaction. He has long resigned himself to this – and is happy about people, particularly children, exploring, climbing and clambering over his pieces. Here he most specifically invites interaction by providing a bench-like seat in the work. So this structure, while its form references the vineyard, also provides a fine resting place for folk on the sculpture walk.
Peter Lange’s work is always informed by fun. He asserts that his claim to fame is that in 2002 he built the world’s first brick boat – 6 metres long and weighing two tonnes - and it floated. His place in the history of art in New Zealand is actually far more significant. In the 1970s Peter Lange’s name was synonymous with the establishment of pottery as a viable art form in New Zealand. Since then he has exhibited and taught internationally and most recently has been the recipient of a Creative New Zealand Craft Object Fellowship. The work that won the Portage Ceramic Award in 2009 was Lange’s brick Lilo.
Brick is Peter Lange’s trademark material. This interest arose out of building kilns in brick for his pottery practice. Now he explores the potential of brick as an art material, firing some himself, cutting others into a variety of shapes, curves and arches and then gluing them together with epoxy mortar. Here he spirals them into a corkscrew shape.
Lange’s sculpture can be likened to that of Picasso in his mixing of ‘the ordinary’ with the concept of ‘fine art’. He ‘elevates’ everyday items. His works are a loose assemblage of things that have some connection with his life. He has made a bell, a basket, dodgem, a ‘paper’ dart, a tent – all in brick. Nor does he respect the traditional hierarchy of materials. Peter Lange makes ceramic works on a scale that is historically the domain of marble, bronze and steel. With a wry smile one realises he has broken unwritten laws. In the company of the greatest art, Lange’s work pushes the boundaries, not in a heavy, intellectual manner but in an enduringly more successful way, with humour.
More from this artist
Artist Bio
Peter Lange has been working with ceramics since the 1970s and is regarded as a pioneer within the New Zealand ceramics community. He has exhibited regularly in New Zealand, China, Dubai, Italy, Taiwan and Turkey and has taken Artist in Residence and teaching positions in five different countries.
For around six years Lange has been experimenting with ceramic bricks - a form previously used only in the construction of kilns and not considered an art material. Lange enjoys challenging public perception of the commonplace medium, saying: 'Brick has been a cheap unit of human construction from the beginning of civilisation. I enjoy softening, bending and sculpting this otherwise rigid material.'
The use of bricks has become Lange's trademark. His sculptures constantly push the boundaries of the medium. Exemplifying his enthusiasm for experimentation, in 2002 Lange built a two tonne, six metre long brick boat which he then floated in the Auckland harbour - simply to prove that he could.
Lange's witty and imaginative approach lends to its wide appeal. Inspiration is drawn from iconic New Zealand forms and the influence of the artist's surroundings in Auckland. He says: 'I'm very influenced by where I live, in New Zealand and specifically Mount Eden. I've lived here for 30 years and it's grown on me. I walk up Maungawhau, the mountain, every day and get another view on the world.'
Lange's work is represented in a number of significant public and private collections, including that of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Christchurch Art Gallery, the Suzhou School of Art in China, and the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales.
