Jazmine and Costa Hammond admire Breaking the Frame by Leanne Morrison. Photo / Supplied.
At more than 10m long and over 3m high my new work Breaking the Frame at MTG Hawke's Bay is literally just that!
I have removed the wooden stretcher bars that frame my conventional painting practice, the painted diagonal forms that are both subject and content sit directly on the wall space in the foyer.
For only the second time in my career, I have been able to work with scale beyond the limitations of frame and canvas, but how would it change the way the painting works or is seen?
Would viewers engage more or less? What would this mean to the way I currently work? A part of the reason why I take on projects outside of the conventional terms of my practice is to keep asking questions of why, what, and how.
But back to the beginning, before I was commissioned to make Breaking the Frame for MTG, I began to investigate and research the history of the building. It soon became apparent to me that it was less about the history and more to do with the physical construction of the building and the purpose and function of the foyer where the work would be situated.
After some toing and froing, it occurred to me that firstly, I wanted to create a work that was free from physical limitations, something that followed the lines of the inside structure of the foyer and became a temporary "part" of the building.
And secondly, to somehow bring attention to the space of the foyer in a new way and what that might mean to the people who use it daily, weekly, monthly, or very occasionally, workers, visitors both local and international. Is it possible to make something invisible visible?
In Samoan culture there is a notion of "le va", a space where things happen, unseen, it is a space we interact daily with, people, things, the environment etc. Another Samoan saying that extends this idea of the va or space is "La teu le va", which roughly translated into English means to respect and cherish all relationships.
It kind of makes sense that as we attend in a positive way to those relationships, we will in turn receive good outcomes, greater self-respect and respect for others including and importantly our environment.
Especially relevant now when so many of our interactions happen online, through our phones and computers and social media, we need to ask ourselves, are we starting to lose touch with each other?
Made up of five interacting diagonal forms in varying shades of semi/gloss black to flat gray and stretching across the length of the wall, each form extends to the limit of the wall.
Each form is built by laying down thin layers of paint and in turn, this creates shallow depths on the surface of the wall. The forms intersect each other at various points and in turn create new textures and greater depth, they create a new space.
Slanted to varying degrees the forms reflect the dynamic nature of the space, with a constant ebb and flow of people moving around and through the space.
Poised "above" the forms are three parallelograms in a bright orange shade, they are opaque and appear stationary within an otherwise dynamic space. Distance between these orange forms varies, two are almost touching and one slightly higher, sit alone, size also varies, as if there is a hierarchy or relationship between the forms.
The whole rejects an easy read of anything resembling sea, sky, land and instead points to a time, not past not future but now.
Circling back to the beginning of this project, this work is not about history or even the future, it's most definitely about the now.
The now is that moment of comprehension when walking through the foyer you encounter the work and for a fleeting moment in time you become a part of the work, you can see the relationship between yourself and the work and others around you.
• Leanne Morrison is an artist.