Subject to Change has been specifically designed for its location in the Te Aro area, making reference to the changes in the urban landscape of that part of Wellington. It comprises a replica of two walls of a heritage-style building, yet is clearly a large scale work of art.
In the artist's words, “It looks like a slice of a building left behind by the developers...tenuously existing on the edge of the new motorway. It mimics components and colour schemes of the buildings that are or were around it, to integrate it within the historical and contemporary context of the area.”
The sculpture has had a difficult and long period of development, with changes of location and design and times where it’s very future seemed uncertain and even doomed. What has eventuated is the best possible outcome with the sculpture having reached a finely researched and elegant resolution on a site rich in historical relevance, close to the very building on which it was modelled and with perfect scale and visibility for the passing pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Regan Gentry is a Wellington resident who has rapidly acquired an enviable reputation as one of Australasia's leading proponents of creative and public art. He is much admired by Wellingtonians for his temporary public sculpture Green Islands on the Four Plinths outside Te Papa, but is also known to many from his exhibition at the NewDowse Gallery Gorse of Course.
Regan has had major sculpture commissions at Sydney's Sculpture by the Sea, at the Connells Bay Sculpture Park on Waiheke Island and, with his widely reviewed Flour Power, at Christchurch. Subject to Change is being funded by Transit New Zealand, with additional contributions from the Wellington Sculpture Trust and the Wellington City Council.
“It is the first work the Trust has commissioned in this part of the city, and we welcome that: Te Aro has its own arts culture which this artwork respects.
“The piece is a thoughtful reflection on the buildings that have been removed and those that have been retained. It will itself, we expect, become an embedded and popular part of the Te Aro streetscape.
“We particularly thank the former Transit NZ for its foresight in seeking to fund an artwork in this area.”
