Flour Power.....

We went for our Friday morning walk/coffee/natter/blipmeet this morning walking around our city. There is a lot happening with the rebuild, but the one thing for me is some of the artwork around the city- it is amazing. I noticed this from afar- I decided it was a wheat sheaf...wasn't far off. It is called Flour Power, designed by Regan Gantry.
The monumental architecture is impressive, lofty trees stately; colossal sculpture frequently approaches the absurd. Regan Gentry’s Flour Power, a massive wheat sheaf made of 13 metre tall galvanised steel lampposts, seemingly courts comic surreality in both scale and context, but always there is an underlying tenet firmly located in materiality, and in pithy narrative.When commissioned to contribute a permanent piece to Christchurch city Regan turned to local history to investigate the basis of the region’s municipal growth. Historically, lucrative wheat crops spread in a wide burnished colourfield from Christchurch’s urban centre. The crop was the foundation of early economic development. Much local nostalgia is linked to wheat; the city was home to the now demolished Edmonds Factory along with fine traditions of baking, and agriculture remains significant to contemporary Christchurch identity. enjoy.......