CITY GALLERY WELLINGTON
11 FEBRUARY 2003
www.city-gallery.org.nz
Press Release
Nothing Less
Andy Irving
31 January – 2 March 2003
Michael Hirschfeld Gallery at City Gallery Wellington
Concrete tumblers, an ash tray, steel tubing, Lion Brown beer bottles, a filing cabinet, a toothbrush holder. These are
some of the everyday objects Wellington-based artist Andy Irving has used to construct the works in Nothing Less, now on
at the Michael Hirschfeld Gallery.
The exhibition, Irving’s first solo exhibition at a public gallery, can be described as expressing an ‘urban vernacular’
– or how common-place, found or ‘scavenged’ materials, assembled in relatively straight forward ways can demonstrate a
merging between art and design, function and dysfunction, the home and the office.
In Nothing Less Irving challenges viewers to see how his works are constructed and how he has recycled them to achieve a
kind of functionality or usefulness. “I am fascinated by the way that things are thrown up in a basic, raw and tactile
way,” Irving says.
Trained as an interior designer and having worked for several years on design and building projects for domestic,
retail, office and exhibition spaces Irving is also interested in the mechanics of the way in which we inhabit urban
spaces and the way materials lend themselves to this. “I want to make desirable objects out of everyday objects”, says
Irving, “pieces that you would want in your home, not just in a gallery.”
Andy Irving will discuss his installation and give a talk on the influences in his work on Thursday 13 February at 6pm,
in the City Cinema, City Gallery Wellington.
Andy Irving – Nothing Less is presented within the 360 programme – a full perspective on Wellington Art, which is
generously sponsored by Designworks. Generously supported by Montana Wines Ltd. City Gallery Wellington is managed by
the Wellington Museums Trust with major funding from the Wellington City Council.
For more information please contact: Anna Davidson, Publicist. T: 04 801 3959 / E: anna.davidson@wcc.govt.nz