Christchurch Art Gallery’s director Blair Jackson is thrilled with the enthusiastic response to its recent significant acquisition to its permanent collection, Ron Mueck’s chicken / man.
‘People are coming to the gallery just to see it - charging in and saying ‘Where is the chicken man?” They are really taken by the reality of the work and there is a lot of talk from visitors remembering Mueck’s 2010 exhibition here at the gallery and how much they loved it.’
Jackson says that the success of the 2010 touring Mueck exhibition from the National Gallery of Victoria, its record numbers of 135,000 paying visitors, (higher than the National Gallery’s visitor count), and the time in which the exhibition was held, between 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 earthquakes, is important background to the $1 million fundraising campaign for the Mueck commission. In addition to donations from 521 individuals, $219,000 was raised through crowd-funding to achieve the $1 million target.
Jackson notes that Mueck created the work especially for Christchurch. ‘Chicken / man is part of a collection which we call the ‘five great works’, five works marking the gallery’s five year closure. Mueck was an obvious choice. The touring exhibition between the quakes was a moment in time. I think that then, people were feeling pretty relieved. In September the quake was big and it was a fright, but nobody was injured and a lot of people reflected on that event through the exhibition period.’
‘So Mueck was a really good choice for the fifth work and he was really keen. He had a good connection with Christchurch and the Gallery. He was really taken by how his show was received here. I think that we actually looked at acquiring a Mueck work before the February events. Because of the success of that show we thought that he would be a good option, so a work of his was a conversation that has evolved over time.’
As the final of five works, Jacksons says the Mueck commission then became part of a major fundraising project with a real community focus. ‘So many gave money for it and that was from children at schools doing coin trails through to generous patrons. The crowd-funding component with Pledge Me for the Mueck still stands as the most money raised in New Zealand for a work of art through crowd funding. That was also very much like the first of the five works, Michael Parekowhai’s Chapman’s Homer, both kind of bookend one another. I think what is really amazing about both is the sense that a lot of people got behind fundraising for them. The gallery raised the money to purchase the Mueck without even knowing what the work would be. People had a strong belief that a work by Mueck would be a great addition to the collection. Like the acquisition of Bridget Riley’s Cosmos, the fourth work in this series of five. Bridget is such a great artist and we just knew she was going to make something great.
Jackson also notes that there was a period of waiting for the Mueck to be completed and that was not unanticipated. ‘Due to the artist’s meticulous attention to detail, a commissioned work takes about a year. Chicken / man “fitted in the queue” behind Mass, a major commission for the National Gallery of Victoria of 100 enormous skulls. We never actually set a time on it. We wanted a great work of art. If it took one year, or eighteen months or two years that is not the issue, it is getting the work that is right for the collection.’
‘Chicken / Man is a classic Ron Mueck in the way that it is made. If you look at the Formica top on the table, it is original Formica. The pattern on the Formica was selected to match the scale of the man and chicken and the feathers also had to match the scale of the chicken. The feathers are actually from another bird because chicken feathers would have been too large.’
Mueck is really good at finding the right scale for his work. Chicken / man is perfectly scaled for our engagement in that you want to look right up and close at each character. You are taking in a scene rather than just one object. What’s also interesting is the way he plays with scale. If you look at chicken / man, the figure has really big hands and Mueck has given deliberate emphasis to those hands.’
‘We always knew that Ron would deliver a great work. We know the body of work he has made and we trust him. That happens in exhibition projects as well. You enter into an agreement or relationship with an artist and what happens at the end of that process over a period of time is often out of the gallery’s hands. It is about trust and a good relationship. Mueck is making work because he wants to make the best work he can.’
’Eighty-seven years ago when Petrus van der velden’s Burial in the winter on the island of Marken [The Dutch Funeral] came into the collection would one have thought that was going to become such an iconic work? It is an incredible painting but it is a bleak painting, yet it’s one of people’s favourite paintings. I certainly hope Mueck is as popular as Dutch Funeral. I would be surprised if it doesn’t have the appeal that it does now.’
‘Chicken / man is a scenario that makes you wonder. I have talked to people about it as a character in their lives, whether it is their father or grandfather. There is a sense of knowing him - even though we don’t know him.’