1999 The Performance (1999)

Many Dibble sculptures have a strong sense of narrative, storytelling that is usually based on themes within New Zealand, the country in which the artist was born and spent his life. The works of the late 1990s particularly saw the development of lyrical assemblages of ideas that are specific to this homeland.

In The Performance a hula dancer is dancing with her hands above her head. The form of the figure is more like a South Pacific carving than a realistic figure, as if it has been chiselled in relief from a wooden shape.

The dancer is being watched by an audience of three entranced penguins, such as could have come up from a nearby beach. Their form and posture give the sense of three men in tuxedos as might be attending the theatre.

This work was commissioned by the Bruce Mason Centre, to be placed outside the theatre, the story a perfect fit for this site. Funds for the sculpture in part came from The Readers’ Digest, and their name is modelled on one side of the long base where the penguins stand. The sculpture is based closely on a smaller work, The Performance, that was exhibited at Gow Langsford Gallery the year before.