Artwork Information

This sculpture’s title, Sugar and spice, hints at tasting pleasure yet, here, the phrase signifies the conflict between social and moral values. Don Driver’s assemblages systematically address issues of the depiction of women, girls and dolls. This is a confrontation with a subject matter that few other New Zealand visual artists have attempted to represent with such a devastating concentration. The gut-wrenching effect of Driver’s associations results from his use of everyday objects placed in difficult oppositions. (Self and Other, 2003)