In preparing for this exhibition, Cat Auburn responded to the history of the gallery building as a former stable, and to a desire to explore concrete as a medium for sculpture, which could be located outside.
Auburn takes her title for the exhibition from the Dr Dolittle character Pushmi-pullyu, a two headed gazelle-unicorn cross which struggles to move in one direction with both heads instinctively wanting to go in opposite directions. The six animals shown here are all caught in a moment of arrested motion. They are all in various ways responding instinctively – fight or flight – to threat. But the threat, whether real or perceived, is invisible. Push me Pull you explores the psychological spaces of freedom and constraint and raises questions about the human capacity to mediate instinct with reason.
Bartley + Company Art
Cat Auburn. Push Me, Pull You. 26 June – 27 July 2013. Solo exhibition at Bartley + Company Art, Wellington. Video by Sophi Reinholt
Cat Auburn (2013). Push Me Pull You. concrete, steel. photo credit: Bartley + Company Art
Cat Auburn (2013). Push Me Pull You. concrete, steel. photo credit: Bartley + Company Art
Cat Auburn (2013). Push Me Pull You. concrete, steel. photo credit: Bartley + Company Art
Cat Auburn (2013). Push Me Pull You (maquette suite). pewter. photo credit: Bartley + Company Art
Cat Auburn (2013). I (maquette). pewter, 140 x 100 x 50 mm. photo credit: Bartley + Company Art
