Don Driver

Fresh from Walls

Fresh from Walls by Don Driver

Artwork Detail

'The inexplicable and magical have always appealed to me.' When Don Driver was young he wanted to be a magician and there is 'magic' at work here. He transforms the mundane and imbues it with troubling subconscious associations. Although Driver is self-taught, and lives in the provincial city of New Plymouth, he has always pushed the barriers of convention in works that are uniquely of that place. In Fresh from Walls we are left to guess at meanings that might range from the humorous to the dreadful. As 'Walls' is a frozen food manufacturer, those gaudy 'op-shop' dresses might suggest differently flavoured ice-blocks. But what of the implied menace of the scythe and pitchforks, agricultural implements that could have more sinister uses? This assemblage is an arrangement of elements that have physical qualities of colour and texture, but they are also the detritus of our society, with their own histories and the attendant patina of age and use. In spite of his choice of materials and the visual pleasure that he finds in the stained, splattered and patched, Driver is also a classicist. Within his loose arrangements of cast-off materials there is an insistent drive toward balance and harmony. (from The Guide, 2001)

Title
Fresh from Walls
Artist/creator
Don Driver
Production date
1982
Medium
found objects and plastic
Dimensions
2680 x 6030 mm
Credit line
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the artist, 1989
Accession no
C1994/1/329.1-4
Copyright
Copying restrictions apply
Department
New Zealand Art
Display status
Not on display

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