Denis O’Connor’s sculpture ranges from public monuments to the most private and intimate narratives. Since 1985 he has re-imagined the potential of stone as a material relevant to contemporary art. Collaborations with painters, architects and poets have been a crucial component of his practice.
Read MoreHis latest body of work What the Roof Dreamt, exhibited at Two rooms April 2007, explores the importance of memory and its relevance in the present using both intimate personal narratives and broad social histories. He layers journeys across the world pursuing the development of his art, with migration stories from the Old World to the South Pacific. Voices from 20th century literature and encounters with the familiar in the depths of a foreign location have been coded meticulously into engraved roof slates and slabs of exotic onyx.
His work is well represented in all our major public collections, and he has received many prestigious public commissions in New Zealand. The most recent bring ‘Raupo Rap’ on the Viaduct Basin, for the City of Auckland in 2005. What the Roof Dreamt will be exhibited at the City Gallery, Wellington September 2007.
Text courtesy Two Rooms.
