After a week of hunting and gathering on the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, we were redirected as a result of a traffic incident on our way back to Auckland via the magnificent Kaipara Harbour on the West Coast of the North Island. This is the biggest harbour in the Southern Hemisphere and has a magnificent sense of scale with rolling hills running down to a waters edge that is hugely tidal. I was informed by my host that we would pass an interesting site along the road, a strange red sculpture was visible on the property of one of New Zealand’s most successful businessmen Alan Gibbs.
I knew immediately what we were going to see as I had seen some information about this outlandish sculpture park in the media. However I had no idea just how powerful and overwhelming the experience would be. After hunting down the property we found ourselves at the entrance gate to this magnificent property. I jumped the fence and the children followed. At the top of a rise I had to take a deep breath and check if I was seeing things. I was awestruck by the the sculpture that I saw before me.
The work of Richard Serra and Anish Kapoor so transcended by understanding of scale and the landscape that I felt like I had entered some other world. Suddenly art of this dimension and ambition gave meaning to the landscape in a way that is hard to put into words. We were very quickly approached my management who told us we had no right to jump the fence, however our obvious enthusiasm softened their approach and soon we were given some insight and understanding of the whole undertaking.
If you want some insight into this exceptional sculpture farm I invite you to look at the website for Gibbs Farm.
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