Ambitious art moves beyond the square

Peter Robinson's 'Ack' is well worth visiting. Phil Walter / Getty Images

Art comes big these days, often as installations. One of the competitors in the rich Walters Prize also has another vast work at Artspace in Karangahape Rd. Peter Robinson's work there, called Ack, is far more exuberant than the constipated pieces he is presenting for the Walters.

Ack is a huge sculpture that fills the two main rooms at Artspace and has an outpost in the third room.

It has the effect of a gigantic improvisation. It romps, rocks and rolls its polystyrene forms though the space and even bursts through a wall at one point.

This is an act of aggression on the part of the artist rather than a logical extension of the forms of the work that are, for the most part, rounded and suited to romping rather than breaking through walls.

The energy comes not so much from thrust but from lift and spreading and from the nature of their making.

Polystyrene is easily cut and the shapes have been hacked out with hot wire or a chainsaw.

Every gesture of the cutting is apparent but the joins where the giant pieces are glued together are far less obvious.

The hints of vomit and excrement in the Robinson works in the Walters finals are much less apparent because of the vivid white of the material, offset by small blue shapes attached here and there that add to the animation by suggesting beaks and tails, buds and sprouts.

Mercifully, it is free of lettering and any meaning it might have is implicit. Yet the inventiveness of its making offers a great source of visual delight.

It is an ambitious work that is well worth exploring and experiencing, but you need to give it time. You have until October 14 to get there.

Time is also needed for other installations that are equally ambitious. At Orexart (formerly Oedipus Rex) in Khartoum Place until October 13 is a big installation of portraits, all in the same square format, by Delicia Sampero.

All the portraits are of New Zealand artists and family who have had some influence on Sampero. As friends they have been invited to submit some sort of written personal credo to accompany the portraits.

The texts vary in interest but the paintings are consistently successful in capturing a likeness combined with a certain degree of idealisation.

Unity is conferred by the way the heads are all back-lit and the hair is consistently livened with dashes of red that suggest both blood and volcanic activity.

A special feature is the overpainting of the faces with the New Zealand coat of arms. This gives the appearance of a moko in some cases and certainly establishes a sense of Aotearoa as the home of these people.

The portrait of John Ioane, with a low viewpoint, and the finely modelled picture of Fatu Feu'u and the image of Camilla Samper, the artist's mother, are particularly fine. There are nearly 50 personalities here and together they have a real sense of community.

Galleries of paintings of prominent locals have been attempted before but never on this scale or as successfully.

Another fascinating gathering of people connected with New Zealand art is the centrepiece of 54321, the exhibition commissioned as the final show in the upper galleries of Auckland Art Gallery before its re-construction work starts.

The walls of the central room have been covered with the names of all the artists in the gallery's collection along with art terms about mediums and dimensions and some quotations of titles and inscriptions.

The work has been done in his characteristic silvery lettering by John Reynolds and the effect is stunning, like breaking into a mysterious archive of ancient lore.

Lisa Reihana's installation of muskets and tobacco, centred on a barrel, which refers to Auckland's early history, is a fine invention too.

It is matched by Andrew McLeod who has installed 10 of his own outstanding prints and has also drawn on the gallery's collections of material by artists as diverse as Fusseli, Goya, Albers and Richard Killeen to make his point about the resources where Auckland artists can find inspiration.

Seung Yul On makes sculpture from the mysterious shapes and flues and mechanisms for the air-conditioning and humidity control necessary in a modern gallery.

Peter Madden is a bit mannered in running some of his collections of material along the skirting of a passageway, but his characteristic Shelves is an amazingly intricate piece. The whole makes a rich and fascinating tribute to the gallery.

The only drawback is the entry price, which is linked to the Walters show. 54321 should be free.