Hiroaki Ueda's work <i>Opened Stone 1971</i> was located in the forecourt of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki for more than 35 years. Photo / David St George
In the days before the Auckland Art Gallery was enlarged and altered a statue stood in the small park to the left of the main entrance. The statue looked Japanese. It took the form of two plinths of red marble topped with a curved slab of red marble. It vanished
at the time of the alterations and has not reappeared. Has it been relocated, is it in temporary storage, or has it been "filed away" and forgotten? Paul Lynton, Takapuna.
The sculpture is Opened Stone 1971, by Japanese artist Hiroaki Ueda.
It is one of five works by Pacific Rim artists that were commissioned by the NZ Society of Sculptors and Painters for the 1971 International Sculpture Symposium, celebrating Auckland's centenary.
Ueda's work was located in the forecourt of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki for more than 35 years. During the redevelopment it was removed, in 2008, and transferred to council's art collection in 2010. Since then research has been undertaken on 18 potential relocation sites and with a variety of stakeholders.
Last month, the council obtained the final approval needed to install the sculpture in Manukau Domain, Lynfield. The Puketapapa Local Board strongly supports this location where it will be welcomed and enhance people's experience of the coastline. It also creates new opportunities to tell different and evolving cultural stories about the artist, the work and its new contribution at the Manukau Domain.
