Natalie Guy, The Genius Loci of the Chapel, #2, #3, #5, 2020
Fibreglass over polystyrene. H3000-3200 x W500-910 x D590-620mm.
Natalie Guy’s art practice engages mid-century Modernism from a contemporary perspective, attending to its slippages and failings just as much as its enduring appeal.
The Genius Loci of the Chapel (#5/#3/#2) are sculptural reinterpretations of Jim Allen and John Scott’s Futuna Chapel, Wellington (1961) and Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp Chapel, France (1955).
“‘Genius Loci’ refers to the distinctive atmosphere of a location, and in science fiction, it refers to a place with its own intelligence,” Guy explains. This characteristic is what her sculptures aim to capture: the tension of the buildings wherein they appear as expressions of a specific time, place, and vision, but also subtly unaligned with their surroundings, oriented to plural other times, places and visions.
Out of place in the natural landscape of Waiheke, Guy’s textured fibreglass columns are disruptive but transporting. Viewers might peer through one of the window-like cavities on their surface for a perspective on the familiar environment that is novel and unexpected, much like Guy’s perspective of Modernism and its legacy.
