Closer is an experience wherein I invite you to engage in connected conversations. These offer the possibility of something beyond the average chat. Closer asks, “What can we gain by interacting near art?”, “Is it possible to use conversation as a pathway to something new and unexpected in ourselves, and with each other?”. Closer hopes to expand our ideas of what is possible in a public space.
The focus of my practice as an artist has shifted over time, turning from the simple production of objects to relating with an ‘audience’, although this term doesn’t suffice to describe the people who can actively co-create meaning, and hopefully, have some feelings in response to art.
My journey toward emotional health and wholeness has been a path that ran parallel to, but separate from, my sculptural work. However, with the Instrument series, these paths began to converge. Closer is both an extension of my focus on relating, and a stripping back to the core of what matters most to me: our felt experiences, and the meanings we make with them.
Closer is inspired by the work of Tino Sehgal, an artist with a background in dance who has described his work as “constructed situations”. I was very inspired when I read about his practice in a New Yorker magazine in 2012 while roasting coffee in Dunedin, and I kept his extreme example of a non-material approach in a back pocket of my brain, wondering how I might apply it. Sehgal’s work Yet untitled showed last year at Auckland Art Gallery.
- Nicholas Duval-Smith, October 2023
About
Nick Duval-Smith is an artist from Ōtepoti (Dunedin) who lives and works in Motueka. His art is playful, dynamic, and lasting, blending natural and simple shapes. He invites you to explore his sculptures and create your own stories with them.
