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Denis O’Connor

The Archive Wine Bar, 2015

Wooden pallets, printed corflute, wine bottles

The Archive Wine Bar is a walk-in diorama that takes its inspiration from pop-up roadside cantinas, wunderkabinets (cabinets of curiosity) and paste-up band poster hoardings. It honours our distinctive wine culture here on Waiheke Island.

“Early in the 1990’s I created a fictitious vineyard named 372 ESTATE – after Waiheke’s signature telephone code. Occasionally I would release ‘wines’ inthe form of engraved slate panels. These wall pieces are a riffe on the formal language of wine labels – terroir, varietals, taste signifers et al, as a deviceto explore aspects of the social and natural history of the Hauraki Gulf. The evolution of our wine culture on Waiheke Island parallels the 44 years that I have maintained a house and studio here. Many of the illustrated images inside my wine bar are from artworks now in private collections and include some imaged Gulf News covers.”

Denis O’Connor

Denis O’Connor has had solo exhibitions in all of the major art museums throughout New Zealand since 1984 and is strongly represented in their collections.

He has received numerous public commissions and prestigious fellowships. He was the Premier Award Winner at headland Sculpture on the Gulf in 2011.

tworooms.org.nz
Represented by Two Rooms Gallery