Three artists for the McCahon House residency

 McCahon House Residency Artists 2011

The McCahon House Trust has announced the three resident artists for the McCahon House Residency Programme in Titirangi for 2011.They are Glen Hayward, Liyen Chong and Ben Cauchi.

Glen Hayward carves and paints sculptures and lives in Kaikohe. He completed a doctorate in fine arts at Elam, University of Auckland in 2005.  He is interested in expanding his practice and to build on the relationship between observation of particular elements within the context of his environment and reinterpretation of these elements.

He creates facsimiles of found objects and by replicating items in the house where McCahon lived he believes he can build on the residue there that might provide a new understanding of the artists work. The McCahon setting will allow him to explore this to a greater extent.

John McCormick, Starkwhite says Glen Hayward is known for his sculptures of everyday, mass-produced items. "Carved from wood and painted exactly as they were as found objects, they masquerade as the real, but they are ‘fakes’ – simulated ready-mades with the potential to deceive the viewer into believing they are seeing the real thing presented as art. Hayward plays with deception and misdirection, creating handmade ‘originals’ that are not quite what they seem to be.æ

Auckland-based artist Liyen Chong was born in Malaysia of Hakka descent (outsider people – a clan in Southern China), migrating to New Zealand with her parents in 1995. She completed a BFA in 2001 and an MFA in 2003 and has recently made the commitment to working fulltime as an artist. Several of her recent works have been composed using human hair.

Melanie Roger of Anna Bibby Gallery says Liyen Chong is an exciting young artist with an immense amount of talent. "Her work consistently surprises, delights and challenges her audiences. The McCahon House Residency will provide her with the opportunity to dedicate a period of time to new directions in her practice stage which I believe will be extremely valuable to her artistic development."

Given that ideas of awareness and the self as a migratory entity are central to her work, Liyen Chong says the residency particularly in the context of the McCahon bach setting, offers her the time and opportunity to further her explorations into what it means to be a New Zealander by relating to the setting as an individual, and relating that experience through the eyes of a foreign born New Zealander and a young migrant. She is keen to shift her practice and explore new means of production in a range of media.

Photographer Ben Cauchi completed an advanced diploma in photography at Massey University, Wellington in 2000. Over the past decade, he has examined the nature of photography and the psychological dimensions of viewing. His work is created by a wet-collection process, on glass or metal, a process dating back to the middle 19th century.

He is excited to have the opportunity to work in a large studio and advance his practice into new areas of critical importance, and, to have access to have access to a wider range of facilities and resource than those available in Whanganui where he is currently based.

Paul McNamara, McNamara Gallery says he has been working with Ben Cauchi since early 2002, and the public and institutional response to his work has been particularly strong.

"Deftly combining the aesthetic properties of 19th century processes with contemporary materials and technology, he achieves a transcendent and unique result, which, like the very best photographs, confidently defies ready description."