Blue and green Pacific

Description

This is an assemblage titled 'Blue and green Pacific', made by New Zealand artist Don Driver in 1978. The work comprises several sections of green canvas and blue and green plastic tarpaulins, ropes and a yellow-tinted plastic sack with text on it. The words that are visible on the sack read 'PACIFIC / P.D.V. SCREENED / GRADE V43 / THROUGH 36 MESH 425 MICRONS / CERTIFIED TO B S S 998'. The assemblage is unframed and unglazed and measures 178.5 cm x 257.0 cm x 5.3 cm.

Educational value

• 'Blue and green Pacific' is a type of artwork known as an 'assemblage' - assemblage is the process of grouping found or unrelated objects to form a completely new structure; the creator of the work, Don Driver (1930-), is considered to be NZ's pioneer and greatest exponent of this type of work.
• The selection and juxtaposition of found objects and materials in this work have transformed the individual parts into a powerful whole - on their own, the tarpaulins and canvas are mundane objects; by assembling them as well as stitching, patching, slicing and tying them with cord and rope, the artist has been able to create a powerful work that moves and provokes the viewer in a way that the individual component parts could never do.
• Although they are seemingly arranged randomly, a close analysis of Don Driver's assemblages reveal that they possess a clear and deliberate underlying order that is designed to encourage viewers to the exploration and acquisition of a deeper and more profound understanding of the work's message and meaning - in this work, the combination of materials and colours has enabled the artist to comment, with menacing undertones, on the fragile state of the environment; his use of patches of differently coloured and textured plastic and canvas also points to the many layers that exist within today's society.
• The creator of this work, Don Driver, is considered to be a major figure within the NZ contemporary art community - Driver was born in Hastings, in the south-east of NZ's North Island, in 1930 but moved to New Plymouth, in the south-west of the North Island, at the age of 13 and has resided there ever since; New Plymouth is a provincial town with an emerging identity that struggles to reconcile its agricultural traditions and its recent redevelopment as a growing cultural centre; this struggle between tradition and change often appears as a subject in Driver's work.