Jet-setting with precious cargo

By LINDA HERRICK arts editor

It sounds like a cushy job, jetsetting around the world with a Boeing full of priceless Colin McCahon paintings. But no. The work includes travelling in a cargo plane, sitting upstairs behind the pilots, unexpected stops to refuel and unload, dealing with customs agents, hours spent at various airports in the middle of the night and the constant fear of damage to your precious cargo.

"It's not a luxury trip by any means," says Auckland Art Gallery principal conservator Sarah Hillary, who has spent a large part of the past year travelling as courier with Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, then back for the Wellington and Auckland shows, before it goes off again to Melbourne and Sydney.

The process before the works from New Zealand - others came from Australia and other parts of the globe - could even start to be loaded on to aircraft was long and convoluted. Hillary became involved through her four-year research project into McCahon's use of non-traditional painting materials, and the resulting exhibition The Surface: McCahon's materials and techniques 1954-66.

The problem with sending paintings out into the world is that it's not good for them, she says. "The best thing for paintings is not to send them out at all, but in the end you have to weigh up whether they are strong enough and you have to accept there may be some wear and tear. With McCahon, the big canvases are getting quite old now and travelling will add to the deterioration. Obviously we've tried to minimise that and there haven't been any dramatic changes at all."

The list of works to go to Europe was not finalised until the beginning of last year. "We had to look at the list and consider whether they were suitable for travel. At one point there was one work which we felt was not up to it, too fragile, too flaky, and we couldn't make it stable."

International security was an issue at the time as well. "How would they be transported to Europe? At that point people were very worried about September 11 and the works flying. It was mooted that they go by sea, but we didn't like that idea at all. You have that long time at sea, no one can watch over them, it's a terrible risk."

And so the decision was made to fly, with Hillary responsible for 51 paintings from New Zealand - including 20 owned by the Auckland Art Gallery - packed into 42 crates loaded into five pallets.

"Before anything goes anywhere, there is thorough documentation of the work, including a large-format photo with an overlay which marks any damage, and a written document which travels with the work. Every time it is moved, the work is checked and any additional damage marked down."

Packing is more complicated than Imelda Marcos' shoe collection. "There are special instructions for packing and unpacking. You can imagine with the large works you'd have to know how to do it or you could damage it so easily."

Pointing to the photo of the massive Angels and Bed No 4: Hi Fi, Hillary explains that it had to be rolled up. "You certainly couldn't fold it. Rolling does bring its own stresses to the paint, but luckily it's not painted too thickly and it's on very big rolls. Generally paintings are rolled 'face out' but in the case of this one, it's so difficult to handle we had to do it the opposite way."

All of the works were placed in solid wooden crates with reinforcing, lining and padding to reduce vibration, and the lids were screwed on. The crates were then placed in the steel pallets, tied over with webbing and covered with two layers of plastic.

It took five hours to secure the crates in the Singapore Airlines cargo plane pallets at Auckland Airport - watched over by Hillary, in the middle of the night. "Once they were loaded and we were happy they were OK, I had to get on the plane and wait for takeoff."

And what a plane. "There are six seats upstairs in the 'bulgy' bit, just behind the pilots. You leave your bags wedged between the cargo and go up a ladder to get to your seat. They have a little kitchen and bathroom and you heat up your own meals. There was only one fork left on the last leg back. There are a couple of bunks out the back for the pilots if they are doing very long hauls, but if they don't need them, you can use them.

"They give you a special video which is quite terrifying - you have to know all the safety regulations. It was all quite scary."

But travelling with the cargo is the "best-case scenario for a courier", says Hillary.

"It means any time the plane stops, you can rush out the door and have a look to see if they're taking your pallets off. When you're travelling in an international situation, because there is other expensive freight on board, at any time they can stop in places you didn't even know existed. So they can take things off and shuffle them around, or perhaps even leave something for a later shipment or leave it sitting on the tarmac for hours in the sun. That's why you have to have a courier to make sure the works don't get lost and they get treated well."

Hillary stayed with the works once they arrived in Amsterdam and oversaw their installation, and later flew back for the "de-installation" and their return.

Bringing the works back from Amsterdam, a stopover in Singapore of even just a few hours meant the shipment had to be moved to a secure air-conditioned storage area while Hillary rested in a hotel.

"It is quite surreal to be flying to the other side of the world with a planeload of McCahons," she agrees. "They are like your little babies. People are very good, they respect you're the one in charge and you don't give that responsibility up. You don't relax until you know all those works are safely in the museum and you can sign them off.

"This has dominated my life for some time, it's like being the exhibition groupie really. I'll have to let go eventually."

But not for some time to come.

Exhibition

* What: Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith

* Where: Auckland Art Gallery

* When: March 29-June 15