2004

Ohio USA, private collections New Zealand

Powdercoated steel, granodiorite stones, stainless steel wire
2870 x 600 x 600 mm
Three variations

Part of a series of works exploring issues associated with the seabed and foreshore.

2012

Collection in Songchu Art Valley, South Korea

Stainless steel, brass, aluminium
3200 x 2000 x 2000 mm

Issues confront us, and then there’s the uncertainty of how much time we have to address them—between these two poles a tenuous relationship holds. What, we wonder, and where are the tipping points?

2003

Kurashiki, Japan

Stainless steel, Boulders from the Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers New Zealand and the Takahashi River, Japan
H: 3m, W: 550mm, D: 550mm

A gift from Christchurch City to Kurashiki City Japan to commemorate 30 years of the sister city relationship. Completed in Japan during a five-week residency at Kurashiki University.

1995

Commission The Farm, Kaipara Harbour

Polished stainless steel, reflective glass
2.1 x 2.1 x 23 metres

Gibbs Farm, Kaipara Harbour, an open-air sculpture park contains the largest collection of large-scale outdoor sculptures in New Zealand by nationally and internationally recognised artists. ‘Gibbs’ sensibility for abstract minimalism has certainly informed the selection of artists for his rural New Zealand project,  but the land itself has equally shaped the aesthetics of the resulting sculptures, making them one of the most interesting collections of site-specific minimalism.’ Rob Garrett.

2005

Commission Connells  Bay Sculpture Park, Waiheke Island

Stainless steel, painted steel, bearings, wind responsive
H 7950 metres

Sited on a steep hill at Connells Bay Sculpture Park Waiheke Island this work referencing circles, cycles and navigational devices, invites the viewer to consider relationships – environmental, physical, temporal, social – and to reflect on finding our way in this time and this place.  Connells Bay Sculpture Park was established by John and Jo Gow and showcases the finest of New Zealand contemporary sculpture in a landscape that is distinctive of Aotearoa New Zealand. It comprises purchased and commissioned site specific and site responsive works. Open by appointment for guided visits November to April each year.

2003

Rocky Bay, Waiheke Island

Stainless steel, painted steel
5000 x 4000 x 3000 mm

Purchased from Sculpture on the Gulf installed at Rocky Bay, Waiheke Island-provided for the enjoyment of the people of Auckland by Nalayini Brito and Gareth Davies of Vinstar.

2006‍

Auckland Airport Sculpture Garden

Stainless steel
3.5m x 8m x 150mm

First installed in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney 2006, followed by Brick Bay Sculpture Trail Snells Beach, and is now located in the collection of Auckland Airport – Sculpture Park.

2014

Lake Terrace, Taupo

Corten steel, mild steel, stainless steel
3400 x 2500 x 2500 mm

Commission/purchased by the Taupo Sculpture Trust and Taupo District Council in 2015.

1991

Te Taero a Kereopa /Te Tahuna a Tama-i-ea, Nelson Boulder Bank

Oxidised steel, reflective glass
20 frames, Length 40 metres;  20 frames: 2100 x 2100 mm

Sea/Sky/Stone – this temporary installation on Te Taero a Kereopa / Te Tahuna a Tama-i-ea, the Nelson Boulder Bank, in place for 60 days was timed to coincide with, and capture, the rising sun of the 1991 winter solstice. Sea/Sky/Stone was aligned with Aotearoa’s southwest to northeast trajectory on the Earth. Sea/Sky/Stone – prompted a significant body of work and culminated in a major commission Sea/Sky/Kaipara The Farm, Alan Gibbs sculpture park in Kaipara Harbour.

1996

Te Taero a Kereopa /Te Tahuna a Tama-i-ea, Nelson Boulder Bank

Photographs, mixed media
1420 x 335 mm

Demarcation (boundaries and limitations) explores our relationship with the land and sea – Aotearoa New Zealand and Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa the Pacific Ocean.

2008

Christchurch City Council Commission, Englefield Reserve, Northwood

Christchurch‍

2010

Commission, buried in Earthquake; excavated pieces now in Canterbury Museum

Stainless steel
8 x 1.5 x 1.5 metres

A private commission completed in June 2010 Reflect survived two of Canterbury’s major earthquakes (September 2010, February 2011) then succumbing, along with the owner’s house, to the third large quake in June 2011 when the cliff collapsed. Lost without trace for five years it was excavated from the rubble at the foot of the cliff during remedial work on Peacocks Gallop and donated to Canterbury Museum’s Quake City exhibition – the story of Christchurch’s earthquakes.

“It's strange that more people will see the sculpture dead than alive.” Graham Bennett

2008

Commission St Margaret’s College, Christchurch

Painted steel, stainless steel, rust stones from Waimakariri, Rakaia and Rangitata Rivers
3000 x 1000 x 700 mm

Commission for St Margaret’s College, Christchurch Stones collected from Canterbury Rivers.

2015‍

Knox Plaza Christchurch

Painted steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminium laminate
13 x 3.5 x 7.5 metres

Commissioned by John Ryder when rebuilding following Christchurch earthquakes. The innovative development at 148 Victoria Street, maximised the potential of the site by referencing the shapes of the adjacent Knox Church and integrating a communal public space with the sculpture as its focal point. Citation in the Civic Trust Awards 2015: The Christchurch Civic Trust recognises excellence in precinct design incorporating a memorial sculpture that contributes to inner city urban revitalisation.

'Extant carries symbols of instruments that we associate with finding and making: navigation (sextant-where are we, where will we head, along what line?), and the determination of dimensions (Calliper–what are the inside and outside measurements of what we are making, trying to understand, living in?)
John Freeman-Moir p 7 Extant.

‍Extant brings two metaphorical instruments into harmony; each suggesting a certain point of view, openings to new possibilities and other ways of looking, each ‘mindful’ of the need for finely crafted decisions.
John Freeman-Moir p9 Extant.

‘A sextant has two mirrors, to determine the angle between a celestial object and a horizon line. A less narcissistic use of mirrors could scarcely be imagined. But what of Extant’s elliptical, moving mirror reflecting people who pass beneath it, and their faces should they look up? Bennett seems to be serving a warning that way finding and world making are unlikely to get us far if self-absorption is the predominant attitude. The precise point of underlying the sextant’s theory and practice is the use of mirrors to get beyond the limits of egocentricity.’
John Freeman-Moir p222

‍Graham Bennett - Around Every Circle

2002

Christchurch

Painted steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminium laminate
13 x 3.5 x 7.5 metres

This sculpture within the Firefighters Reserve stands as a silent tribute to firefighters worldwide who risk their lives daily in the pursuit of their duty. Firefighters are always in the front line and never more so than on September 11 2001, when international terrorists hijacked four domestic American jet airliners and flew two of them, along with their passengers, into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center. The two towers imploded and collapsed, and among the more than 2800 dead were 343 New York firefighters. All that remained of the twin towers, and the lives lost within, was a mountainous pile of twisted steel and smoking rubble. In May 2002, five steel girders, weighing 5.5 tons were salvaged from the site of the World Trade Center and gifted to the City of Christchurch by the City of New York for use in a public art work to honour all firefighters worldwide. The suspended component or ‘spear’, in its re-hot state, fell from the 102nd floor of the World Trade Centre Tower Two, piercing the subway below. The sculpture stands within a dedicated reserve opposite the Central Fire Station on the banks of the Avon River, near the historic site of the former Tautahi Pā. There were important Māori cultural and spiritual issues to be considered in placing a sculpture made from a site of death near this significant life-giving site. Consulation with representatives of the Rūnaka of Ōtautahi and Tūāhuriri took place to ensure that processes and procedures were enacted to appropriately acknowledge and address the cultural considerations.The opening of the reserve and unveilling of the sculpture on October 26 marked the beginning of the 2002 Seventh World Firefighters Games in Christchurch. This sculpture Tribute to Firefighters was created by Christchurch artist Graham Bennett. A work of stark simplicty, the composition was derived from observations of firefighting skills, notions of overhead dangers and of recovery.

2006

Commission Christchurch South Library

‍Steel, stone, bearings, wind responsive
5.5 x 15 x 7.5 metres - Footprint includes an inside component

Public commission for South Christchurch Library. Engage introduces a contrast in its curved forms and a human element to the otherwise severe, straight lines of the library’s architecture. The curves reflect those of the meandering Heathcote River at the library’s doorstep, the braided Waimakariri riverbed, the floodplain on which Christchurch is built, and the backdrop of the undulating Port Hills. The artwork connects with many elements, inviting people to observe or discover and engage the human, geographic, climatic and cultural dimensions of the library within the context of the district, province and time past and present. Four pieces of the sculpture are located outside the library, two in the moat and one inside the building. Boulders from the Waimakariri River balance the text on the ‘flags’: the journey–te hekenga, the challenge–te wero, the learning–teakoranga.

1999

Collection of  Ohinetahi, Governors Bay

Cast iron, steel, copper, stone
3200 x 300 x 100 mm

Constructed from cubes from Demarcation installation and granodiorite stones from Nelson’s Boulder Bank. Located at Ohinetahi, Governors Bay. Ohinetahi is an historic homestead owned by Sir Miles Warren and gifted to Christchurch City.

2012

Commission Ohinetahi, Governors Bay

Stainless steel, powdercoated stainless steel
8000 x 1500 x 1500 mm

Commissioned by Sir Miles Warren for his garden in Ohinetahi, Governors Bay. Ohinetahi is an historic homestead owned by Sir Miles Warren and gifted to Christchurch City. The sculpture references the patterns on the mudflats when the tide is out. Images were taken of every low tide for one month–centred on 21 June 2010. The installation of the sculpture was delayed by the time required for the house and property to be re-instated after the earthquakes.

2015

Commission Taitapu Sculpture Garden

Stainless steel, galvanised steel, telecommunication pole (recycled from Antarctica)
6300 X 2000 X 2000 mm

Commissioned by Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden whose mission is to support contemporary New Zealand sculpture practice and enhance native biodiversity in Canterbury ‘None so blind as those who cannot see...’ –a nod to 17th century minister Matthew Henry’s suggestion that you cannot make someone pay attention to something they do not want to. Pulling a lever (a ‘conscience adjuster’) on this sculpture adjusts the distance of the figure from the clock below and the arrow on the dial moves forward in the last quadrant of time. Action connects with reaction.

2009

Commission Taitapu Sculpture Garden

Stainless Steel
5400 x 1000 x 1000 mm

Purchased by Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden whose mission is to support contemporary New Zealand sculpture practice and enhance native biodiversity in Canterbury.

2013

Commission Lincoln University

‍Stainless steel,  telecommunication pole (recycled from Antarctica), painted steel, water
7650 x 2600 x 2600 mm

Oversight was commissioned by Lincoln University and completed during a residency there. Oversight is part of a series of works beginning with Tipping Point constructed during an international residency in Seoul, South Korea 2012. These works, a departure into the figurative, incorporate polished, computer-generated figure-profiles floating in the wind, seemingly oblivious to the environmental predicaments confronting us. Oversight underscores the urgent need to take stock of our water use. The figure atop the recycled telecommunication pole from Antarctica oversees the manipulation of an improbable mechanism indicating the last quadrant of time. A bucket attached fills with rain-water and when full spills the entire contents-15 litres-onto the ground and any unsuspecting people below. We look but will we see the point of no return? Oversight of anything carries responsibility with it–does this go beyond playing on your mind.

2005

Lake foreshore, Wanaka

Painted steel
3300 x 7000 x  2300 mm

Purchased privately and gifted to Wanaka, located on the lake front.