Eve Armstrong at Auckland Art Fair20 May 2007

While most of the galleries at Auckland Art Fair �07

used the opportunity to showcase a selection of their

artists, Michael Lett presented Michael Parekowhai

and Eve Armstrong exclusively. Walking through the

main entrance past Len Lye's Fountain (Langsford

Gallery 1976/2003) and Anton Parson's Numbers

No.5 (Roger William Contemporary 2007) one passed

into a trail of coves set with the wall works, publication

tables, and representatives of the galleries

participating.

I had recieved an email stating that Michael Lett

would be at the fair "in a small stand, near the back.3

One aspect of the fair was that if you walked too far in

any direction you tended to end up in a non-exhibition

space. In fact, the way in which I approached the fair

led me past what looked like a food service entrance

(I later noticed it was marked "Mint Kitchen Service

Entrance and Staff Only") before I came to the main

doors. A short time after entering the fair I saw a

sandwich in a plastic container sitting on a worn stool

and wondered if I had once again stumbled across

an item not for exhibition, an item waiting to be eaten.

So it happened that Eve Armstrong's installation of

rubbish at the back of the fair appeared, for a

moment, to be another such item, being temporarily

stored before removal.

The work itself was not organized like a rubbish pile

but like a rubbish pile on display with packaging tape

in vertical lines down the wall and mass of boxes

piled into the corner, spilling out and being joined by

lamps, cardboard tubes, and tiles laid out like

flooring. The more unique objects took front positions

and a painting of the installation hung alongside. The

points at which the organisation of the installation and

that of a rubbish pile differed were not ranked in any

order. The placement of the installation within the fair

and amid exhibition/ nonexhibition contrasts allowed it

appear the object of another intent.

Arrangement: Gush, 2007

Michael Lett at Auckland Art Fair �07

Armstrong recently held trading tables at Freyberg

Square, Westfield Downtown, and the Bank of New

Zealand and gave an artist's talk at the Auckland Art

Gallery as part of Turbulence, the 3rd Auckland

Triennial, 2007.

Backdrop (billboard), 2006Scape Biennial of Art in Public Space, Christchurch

Construction Park (collage), 2003-2005Roam, Artspace, Auckland

Trading Table, 2005Roam, Artspace, Auckland

Leisure Kit, 2005Likes The Outdoors, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton

Promotional Kiosk, 2004

The Bed You Lie In, Artspace, Auckland

How to Hold a Trading Table (publication), 2004Available from Michael Lett