Paul Dibble's The Garden 2002 will soon feature in Havelock North. Photo / Supplied
Opinion
The late writer Ngaio Marsh once described Havelock North as a place where "the esoteric found a fertile soil".
As a novelist and dramatist one could assume she'd not have any objection to the semi-nude sculpture The Garden 2002 poised for a sizeable plinth in the village's CBD.
Quibbling over
art, especially public art, delineates factions of society that are otherwise wallflowers. Such is art's clout it elicits both passion and inhibition.
Art began when humanity eventually found time (over and above the tasks necessary for existence) to devote to symbolism and creativity. In other words, our species' survival doesn't hinge on it.
Hence the act of creating will always be privileged, often superfluous and to some extent gratuitous.
