Bill Culbert
Bill Culbert (born 1935) is a significant New Zealand artist, notable for his use of light in painting, photography, sculpture and installation work, as well as his use of found and recycled materials.[1] He was born in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin and now divides his time between London, Croagnes, France and New Zealand. He is married to artist Pip Culbert and has made many collaborative works with artist Ralph Hotere.
Contents
Early life and education
Bill Culbert studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury, Christchurch from 1953 to 1956, alongside Pat Hanly, Gil Taverner, Quentin McFarlane, Trevor Moffitt, Ted Bracey, John Coley and Hamish Keith - many who lived in the same house in Armagh Street.[2] Culbert received a National Art Gallery scholarship in 1957 and left New Zealand to study painting at the Royal College of Art, London.[2] He exhibited in the Young Contemporaries and Young Commonwealth Artists exhibitions alongside fellow expatriate New Zealander, Billy Apple.
Career
Culbert began to experiment with electric light in 1967. He had a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1977. The touring survey exhibition Lightworks was organised by City Gallery Wellington in 1997. He participated in the first Auckland Triennial in 2001. In 2013 he represented New Zealand at the 55th Venice Biennale. His exhibition, titled Front Door Out Back, was displayed in the New Zealand pavilion, sited at the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà.
He has permanent commissioned sculptures in London, Wellington and Auckland. Many are collaborative works with Ralph Hotere, including Fault on the facade of City Gallery Wellington (1994), Void (2006) in the atrium of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Black Stump, a 20m-high column outside the Vero Centre in Auckland.[2][3] His work is held in public and private collections throughout New Zealand and Europe.
Awards and fellowships
- National Art Gallery Scholarship (New Zealand), 1957
- Artist in Residence, University of Nottingham, 1963–65
- Greater London Arts Association AWard, 1981
- Arts Council of Great Britain Holographic Bursary, Goldsmiths' Holography Workshop, Goldsmiths' College, London, 1982
- Residency, Museum of Holography, New York, 1985
- Residency, Exploratorium, San Francisco, 1989
References
Further reading
- Ian Wedde, Making Light Work (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2009) ISBN 9781869404390
- Justin Paton, Light Wine Things (Dunedin: Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2005) ISBN 9780908910441
- Lara Strongman (ed.) Lightworks (Wellington: City Gallery Wellington, 1997) ISBN 0958355452
- Christopher Moore , Lighting the way with art, in Stuff, 20 October 2011
- John Daly-Peoples, The lightness of Bill Culbert, in National Business Review, 27 November 2009
- David Eggleton, The lightness of being Bill Culbert, in The landfall review online, 1 June 2011
- Gregory O'Brien, The Light Fantastic, in New Zealand Listener, 15 August 2009
External links
- Artist page at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- Video of Bill Culbert installing Daylight flotsam Venice (2013) and Drop (2013) – Te Papa Channel
- Sarah Farrar, Te Papa's Senior Curator Art, interviews Bill Culbert on arts.tepapa.govt.nz
- Artist collection page at Christchurch Art Gallery
- Artist page at Auckland Art Gallery
- Artist page at Laurent Delaye Gallery, London
- Artist profile at Creative New Zealand
- 1935 births
- People from Port Chalmers
- Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni
- University of Canterbury alumni
- Alumni of the Royal College of Art
- New Zealand artists
- New Zealand painters
- Modern painters
- Modern sculptors
- People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- Living people
- 20th-century New Zealand sculptors
