PETER MADDEN
Peter Madden's sculptural installations begin life as flat imagery, which he carefully refashions into spiralling three-dimensional objects. Gleaning images from books, magazines and encyclopaedias - National Geographic magazines are a favourite - Madden slices out the illustrations, then reassembles them in fantastical constructions. The denuded books are kept - pages intact in their spines, rustling with empty spaces - for possible future works.
Although Madden works from second-hand imagery, he often uses photography as a metaphor when discussing his practice.
'I'm not a photographer standing on the edge of the world,' Madden has said. 'In my work, I'm cutting into a body of knowledge, poetically releasing the images.'
1966
Born
1992
Bachelor of Visual Arts, Sculpture Department, Auckland Institute of Technology, Auckland
2002
Masters of Fine Arts, Sculpture, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, Auckland
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008
Slices in a disappearance, incisions across a paper sky, Michael Lett, Auckland
Sillycuts, Ryan Renshaw, Brisbane, Australia
2007
Cutlass, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
Playback, 64zero3, Christchurch, New Zealand
2006
Escape From Orchid City, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
The Deep End, Pataka, Wellington, New Zealand
The Deep End, Te Tuhi , Auckland, New Zealand
2005
Silk Cuts, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
2004
Forever Present, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
2003
New Works and Thoughtless Room, RM103, Auckland, New Zealand
2001
Silk Cuts, RM401, Auckland, New Zealand
Gone, Space Miyamae, Tokyo, Japan
2000
Spectacle of Holes, RM212, Auckland, New Zealand
1999
Plane of 1000 Cuts, RM3, Auckland, New Zealand
1997
Solo, Fiat Lux, Auckland, New Zealand
1995
Tears of Eros, Teststrip, Auckland, New Zealand
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009
My Own Private Idealogue, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia
Snare/mâhanga: contemporary artists respond to birds in the Canterbury Museum collection, Robert MacDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
SECONDLIFE: Five Artist projects, Pataka, Wellington, New Zealand
2008
Stations of the Cross: Gus Fisher, Auckland, New Zealand
Art Suitcase: Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Wonderkamer: Christchurch City Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Neo Goth: Back in Black, University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia
Group show: Gallery artists & special guests, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Spaghetti Junction: 64zero3 Christchurch, New Zealand
2007
Making Worlds, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Group Show!, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
2006
Michael Lett in Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
54321, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Break Construct, Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Fumus Fugien, Smart Projects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Collage Effect, 1301PE, Los Angeles, USA
2005
NADA Art Fair, Michael Lett Stand, Miami, USA
Uncanny, Artspace, Auckland New Zealand
Snake Oil, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Artists On Their Way, Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Summer Group, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
Remember New Zealand, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
2004
Manoeuvre, St. Paul St Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Downtown Frown, Special, Auckland, New Zealand
Prospect, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
In Flower, Pataka, Poriua, Wellington, New Zealand
History Now, Te Tuhi: The Mark, Pakuranga, Auckland, New Zealand
Remember New Zealand, Sao Paulo Biennale, San Paulo, Brazil
2003
Cuckoo Retrospective, Malmo, Sweden
Picture, George Frazer Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Follow the White Rabbit, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
Fiona Gillmore, Peter Madden, Nicholas Spratt, Erica van Zon, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
2002
Never Empty Room, Bellwether, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Flora and Fauna Room, RM401, Auckland, New Zealand
Window Project with Cuckoo, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
2001
The Trial (with Dane Mitchell), Black Cube, Christchurch, New Zealand
Public Enemy, High Street Project, Christchurch, New Zealand
2000
Paper: 1st Year Anniversary, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Micro-Biennale, RM212, Auckland, New Zealand
Re-Animator, (exhibitor and co-curator), RM3, Auckland, New Zealand
Never Empty Room, Room Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1999
Deep Velvet – Found Cinema, RM3, Auckland, New Zealand
1998
Falling Dust, PP1-9, Auckland, New Zealand
Never Empty Room, RM3, Auckland, New Zealand
1997
Vermiculation of Freedom in Theatre of Love, Fiat Lux, Auckland, New Zealand
1996
Fleshly Worn, ASA Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Poesies of Stasis, Auckland University, Auckland, New Zealand
Valentines Day, Alba, Auckland, New Zealand
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tello, Veronica, ‘Peter Madden: New Work,’ Artworld Magazine, Dec 2008/Jan 2009, pp.60-63
Arps, Dan, ‘We Are All Made Of Stars,’ New Zealand Journal of Photography, issue #55, Winter 2004, pp.22
Bywater, Jon, “That Looks Nice 2”, Listener, December 27, 2003, pp.62
Gardiner, Sue, 'The unbuilt realm', Art News New Zealand, Autumn 2004, pp. 52-53
Laird, Tessa, “The Living Dead”, Natural Selection (online magazine), issue #2, Winter 2004, pp.30-35
Leonard, Robert, ‘Snake Oil, Chartwell Acquisitions 2002 – 05’, Auckland Art Gallery, 2005
McNamara, T.J., “Imagination Takes Wing”, New Zealand Herald, Wednesday November 3, 2004, pp.B7
“Found Images”, Metro Magazine, January 2005, pp.83
SELECTED PUBLIC & PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand
The Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand
James Wallace Collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Ergas Collection, Canberra, Australia