Human hand on the land

By AMY SAUNDERS

One of the world's most prestigious art museums has commissioned a work from New Zealand sculptor Chris Booth.

The Kroller-Muller Museum, set in the vast Hoge Veluwe National Park 10km from Arnhem, houses one of Europe's largest sculpture gardens and art museums, and is visited by millions of people every year.

"I was pretty nervous about it, like all good challenges. However, I was really inspired and thankfully it has all flowed," says Booth, 55), who has had several more offers from prestigious institutions since the commission was offered in June and the concept proposal confirmed last month.

His sculpture will sit among the works of artists such as Auguste Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Richard Serra.

Booth first went to the Kroller-Muller museum in 1968 while studying with Barbara Hepworth in England. Since then he has returned to the museum three times. In 2001 he sent his book Sculpture in Europe, Australia and New Zealand to the director, Dr Evert van Straaten, and received a fax suggesting they meet. The meeting in the Netherlands last year resulted in the commission.

Since graduating from Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1968, Booth has been one of New Zealand's most prolific sculptors. He began working internationally in 1988 and has since been commissioned by leading sculpture parks and art institutions all over the world. One of his best-known pieces in this country is Gateway, the two-pronged, boulder and metal sculpture at the bottom of Auckland's Albert Park.

"I work best in natural environments, responding to the environment and human activities," he says. "I also carry a social responsibility in my work which is rare in land art."

This year he spent two weeks in residence at the Kroller-Muller, researching the area, its history and people.

He visited ancient water catchments, handmade paper mills, and talked to scientists, foresters, historians and locals to gain an understanding of the region.

"Very few people know the actual geomorphological history as well as its human history," says Booth, who has spent 35 years researching similar site-specific projects.

He says the Hoge Veluwe area has suffered at the hands of its inhabitants, who tried to control the environment with intensive farming and tree planting.

"The sculpture speaks of humans and their destructive impact through centuries of agriculture on this fragile land."

Made from local granite boulders, the sculpture will take three months to construct. The boulders will be held together with stainless steel cables and reinforcing rods forming a large waving ovoid which represents millions of years of changing environmental patterns and the impact of man.

Arts patron Jenny Gibbs, who cycled around the Hoge Veluwe National Park last year, says this is a significant privilege for one of the country's best-known international sculptors.

While living in England, Booth decided he wanted to be an international artist based in New Zealand, so he returned to his hometown of Kerikeri.

But it hasn't been easy for the sculptor, who says he has had to be frugal all his life.

"You really have to prove yourself and it takes years. Being from little isolated New Zealand doesn't really help."

He will begin work on the project next April.