November 11, 2023 - March 10, 2024 Paul Dibble: Continuum

A classic Paul Dibble quip was that his sculptures would last as long as the planet. Bronze as a media is one that endures – not only as statues that pay tribute to people, places and events but further still, to the Bronze Age and metal found at the bottom of the ocean, buried deep underground. Inevitably, having chosen a career focusing on bronze, Dibble’s works have not only withstood the elements and contemporary art trends – they have also become markers of identity and important sites, and beacons of home in far off places.

Dibble’s training at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, was a combination of being taught traditional techniques and contemporary discourse, which went on to greatly affect the development of his practice. After art school he made many experimental pieces, paid for by his work making church statuary, and later teaching. However, by the mid-80s, he decided to make things that would last. Sculptures that could become landmarks and tributes, to be part of cities and history. Sculptures that would connect with people’s lives.

The earliest piece in the exhibition is one of those ‘jobbing’ church works, a candlestick, full and robust, by the newly graduated student in his twenties. The most recent sculpture was finished in 2023, culminating in a survey of 55 years of art making.

The sculptures in Continuum are not arranged chronologically. Rather they are sectioned to reflect a coming of age: beginning with origin stories in “Creation”; to learning and applying new skills in “Lessons”; settling and establishing in “Home” and, ultimately, maturing and flourishing in “Legacy”. The exhibition doesn’t categorise the artist’s life in a literal sense, but groups works within these themes.

In “Creation”, symbols are adapted from oral history traditions across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific) and Christian biblical references, while “Lessons” acknowledges key influences in Dibble’s work. “Home” contemplates creatures and concerns specific to our place, Aotearoa New Zealand, and in “Legacy” the artist’s works stand as enduring tributes to loss and beauty.

This curatorial approach resists the narrative that an artistic oeuvre necessarily starts from one point with a clear end goal in mind, as if life is a race to a finish line. Rather, Continuum shows a practice that keeps circling and exploring, in the re-treading of themes of a life well-lived.