Gibbs Farm, a miraculous sculpture park, in New Zealand

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Andy Goldsworthy, Arches, 2005, eleven free standing arches in sandstone

I will never be able to see a fence in a field without thinking of Daniel Buren’s green and white pickets at Gibbs Farm, an hour north of Auckland, in New Zealand. There are 3,2 kms of them planted at 4 m intervals, all across the entrepreneur’s 900 acres property for which Alan Gibbs has commissioned the largest Richard Serra steel sculpture (250 m long), a huge Anish Kapoor red “Dismemberment”, a Sol LeWitt pyramid, three Maya Lin grass mounts, a Bernar Venet group of 8 sculptures “88.5°”, which sits (too) prominently on a hill and a sublime series of sandstone arches by Andy Goldsworthy, which visually link the sea to the land.

Daniel Buren’s fence with Anish Kapoor’s “Dismemberment” in the back

Thanks to Ryan Moore, who runs the Fine Arts Sydney gallery in Australia, we were introduced to Jane Sutherland, the curator and very gracious hostess who previously worked at Saatchi and Saatchi in New York. Dressed in a 1970’s long cotton dress and a large hat, she fearlessly drives a Rubicon four wheel vehicle up and down the meadows where alpacas graze with emus, sheep and ostriches move among the installations. New Zealand artists such as Gerry Judah,  Russell Moses and Neil Dawson, Chinese artist Zhan Wang whose “Floating Island of Immortals” welcomes the visitor at the entrance, and American George Rickey are among the 27 artists assembled here.

Bernar Venet, 88.5°, arch X 8 is closely watched by the longhorns

The land was bought 33 years ago, fifty kms north of Auckland on the west coast of the North Island, when Alan Gibbs (b.1939) fell in love with the extraordinary light and the hilly landscape. As I later learned from architect David Berridge‘s explanations, winds permanently circulate in New Zealand, which is a long and narrow island, and thus clouds move all the time allowing a very versatile weather and dramatic sceneries.

Richard Serra, “Te Tuhirongi Contour”, 1999-2001, is made of 56 corten steel plates

In the five hours that we spent at Gibbs farm, the Richard Serra “Te Tuhirangi Contour” constantly changed color. From bright ochre to black depending on the shade and the sun. It is by far the most impressive work on the property with the Andy Goldsworthy arches which have always fascinated me since I saw them in 1989, in London, as photographs of ice sculptures, made in the North Pole, and in the book “Touching North “.

Daniel Buren’ fence continues in the water

The large red Anish Kapoor “Dismemberment” also links the inland part of the property to the estuary where the sea comes and goes with the tide. As we were having a light lunch at Jane’s, we saw the water slowly covering the bay and an amazing diversity of birds flying around. And this is what most struck me: all kinds of animal species give extra life to these sculptures. The longhorns scrape their skin against the Bernar Venet arches, sheep scratch their wool on the Richard Serra fence and create a white line along the sculpture (which the artist apparently enjoys), the giraffe reigns in majesty over the Daniel Buren fences.

Goldsworthy’ arches in sandstone stand by themselves like in Roman times

The green pasture is of course a beautiful decor for all these works of art which are the result of a miracle of determination and engineering. Richard Serra’s piece lies 20 ft deep in the ground and while it espouses the hill with a gracious movement, there is a point in the field, where you can see it as a flat straight line. It took 4 years to make and three months to install the different pieces modeled in Munich and the artist came over many times to check on their installation.

Jane Sutherland driving along Richard Serra’s 250 m long fence

A model in timber was made beforehand to ensure the right inclination of 11%. What was not foreseen probably, is the passion that alpacas (imported from Peru) and emus have for the piece…

Sol LeWitt’s pyramid in concrete blocks, 1997, reminded me of Panlenque’s in Mexico.

The magic of this collection is the mix of contemporary art, with nature and animals. But also the light which Alan Gibbs fell in love with when he first saw the land from a helicopter. His house has amazing views of the bay with constant changes in the tides and the clouds.

The views from the main house are spectacular

The property can only be visited through charities’ visiting days. The next one is to benefit the Royal New Zealand Ballet on March 22.

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11 Comments on “Gibbs Farm, a miraculous sculpture park, in New Zealand”

  1. Reply

    Quelle chance extraordinaire d’avoir pu visiter cette propriété extraordinaire !
    C’est un de mes rêves, merci de l’avoir si joliment décrit chère Laure.

  4. Reply

    Merci chère Laure pour ce reportage.
    La belle lumière de cette lointaine partie du monde si différente de nos latitudes. Ces immense sculptures qui épousent la nature. Quel beau voyage !

  11. Reply

    Breathtaking! How the sculptures fit perfectly in the landscape and unite with it.And the animals living their lives with and among the sculptures. I am stunned. Thank you for this wonderful reportage.

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