Chewing the fat and spitting it out

By LINDA HERRICK

A press release from an art gallery reached my desk this week, passed on by a colleague with a note: "I presume this is a spoof. Isn't it?" The document publicises an exhibition opening tomorrow at Enjoy Gallery in Wellington's Cuba St and it boldly goes where no press release has gone before - trumpeting Spat, a conceptual work by Regan and Clemency Boyce using ... old chewing gum.

"Exhibitions often begin with curators chewing the fat with artists," the release reads, "chewing gum provides many dimensions - texture, colour, shape, smell, taste and stickiness. Scarred by teeth, by tongue, by words, coughs, sneezes and laughter. The physical remains of discussion."

Spat is part of two series of shows at Enjoy which have received Creative New Zealand funding to the rather tinny tune of $14,062. No one is getting rich here, except possibly chewing gum manufacturers.

"Our gallery is always looking for the new and innovative," says Tao Wells, one of four artists who run Enjoy, a two-year-old public gallery. "Over the past 30 or 40 years of art, new forms have emerged. We are a display-only space and we support the experimental in the arts, which basically means the type of art you can't buy.

"There seems to be a need for galleries like this, and there's a small network throughout New Zealand, like the Blue Oyster in Dunedin, Room 401 in Auckland and the Physics Gallery in Christchurch.

"We are trying to recognise the market has shifted and there is an audience for this type of work."

But surely, spitting out chewing gum and calling it art must be taking the mickey?

"Should the public take it seriously? We do, but that doesn't mean we can't have a sense of humour," says Wells. "This type of thing is part of a worldwide phenomenon. This stuff exists whether you like it or not."