July 20 - August 14, 2010 Performers

This recent collection of sculptures by Paul Dibble features assemblages of people with animals in visual narratives expressing an odd dialogue of crossed messages, disjointed conversations in an interaction between species.

The people are busy, walking briskly by (Parallel Worlds) or performing as dancers (Dancer Below, Pigeon Above), often oblivious to their companions who look at them, the birds mostly positioned above on branches or scaffolding, where they seem to quizzically watch.

The dancers are full of youth, doing single arm handstands or standing tiptoe with a disciplined controlled posture, with inward pre-occupation. Their forms are fluid and elegant, not what one would expect from the medium of bronze. With expansive gesture and concentration, they mostly ignore the animal companions who share their stage.

Some show less disdain either by showing off (as with the dancer with flailing arms trying to impress her serious lizard audience in Who’s Afraid), taunting (in Rodent With Dancer) or perhaps deciding to play (as in Teaching Kiwi to Dance).

Some of the studies feature just the birds, interplayed with the human structures of square props and scaffolding, miniature Serra sculptures relocated to New Zealand, though some have been brought to life with sprouted small leaves. These express a sense of celebration for the return of the birds, a resurrection of sorts, as numbers now soar in both forests and cities from environmental rescue after years of neglect and indifference.