KEY POINTS:
They say every cloud has a silver lining.
Try telling that to the six Auckland Art Gallery staff who spent more than 200 hours unpacking and hanging the 7000 tiny canvases of Cloud for New Zealand's richest - and most prestigious - contemporary art prize.
Artist John Reynolds' piece has been chosen as a finalist in the $50,000 Walters Prize. It comprises 7000 white canvases painted silver with words taken from The Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English.
Exhibiting Cloud was a logistical nightmare for the gallery staff charged with transporting the artwork from Te Papa in Wellington to Auckland for the opening yesterday.
Each of the canvases was packed into individual archival boxes in alphabetical order before being transported.
Then, six conservators checked each numbered canvas for damage, a task that took five solid working days, as every canvas had its own "condition report" checklist.
"It was the largest job tackled by our conservators," said exhibition designer and co-ordinator Scott Everson.
"For the last Walters Prize [in 2006] we had to install a spa pool in the space, which was really difficult. But this is huge in another way."
Once unpacked, another team of six - including Reynolds - spent a further 12 days painstakingly putting velcro dots on the back of each canvas to hang the work across seven walls.
The artist decided where each piece would be placed - unfortunately for the gallery staff, not in alphabetical order.
Cloud is among four pieces of art picked as finalists for the Walters Prize, a biennial award won in 2006 by Francis Upritchard.
The other finalists are Lisa Reihana, Peter Robinson and Edith Amituanai.
International art expert Catherine David will judge who gets the $50,000 prize. The exhibition runs until the end of November.
