The Max Patté Experience - Wellington
The Max Patté Experience runs from 12-27 September at Shed 11, National Portrait Gallery, Wellington.
Max Patté with one of his works.
British-born artist Max Patté is perhaps best known for Solace in the Wind, a 2m tall cast iron sculpture of a man leaning into the wind on Wellington’s waterfront. Now, the former Weta Workshop’s head of sculpture is set to have his first ever Wellington exhibition at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, Shed 11 on Customhouse Quay.
The Max Patté Experience runs from 12 to 27 September, and along with cast iron sculptures will include a series of 3D printed titanium sculptures and light installations. Patté follows Wellington’s well-trodden path of artistic collaboration and hi tech ingenuity by calling on the skill of Kiwi company Zenith Tecnica, which reputedly has the biggest 3D titanium printer in the world. Together they will create a series of six 3D printed titanium sculptures.
Cast iron works never before seen in Wellington include maquettes (small models of a sculpture) of Clydesdale Horses, called The Frolic & the Fancy, created in 2013. The full size works are featured at Sir Michael Hill’s the Hills Golf Club near Queenstown, which also has a Solace in the Wind sculpture.
Patté says creating sculptures is “like having a child and sending that child out there into the world to make its own way. You put them out there and they take on their own patinas. They might get graffitied, which I’ve always likened to the human body getting a knock or two, injuries, scars. I really don’t mind any of that.”
Patté has also moved in an exciting new direction to produce custom-built light works with the help of Pietro Marson, supervisor of Weta’s electronics and animatronics department. The cutting-edge light works utilise a unique ‘micro-controller’ which adjusts the colour over 4 to 5 hours, creating a slow fade that is imperceptible to the eye.
As the colour morphs, so does the mood of the room, which are essentially Patté -made interiors which fit inside the gallery. Patté describes these pieces as the “next generation” of light works which he began experimenting with in 2014.
General admission to The Max Patté Experience is free. However, on 13 and 26 September Patté will present an hour long “Artist’s Talk” starting at 11am.
Tickets cost $15 which includes light refreshments. Buy tickets here.