Dylan Lind is a New Zealander of Cook Island/European descent. He was born in Auckland in 1979 and graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts with a BFA in 2001. Following on from his successful debut exhibition, Numbered Days (2005), he presents a fresh new body of work.

Dylan Lind brings the craft of Tivaevae together with the chaos of Rauschenberg with his latest exhibition. Family heirlooms and domestic life are presented in a tense collage of cloth, tarpaulin, linoleum, wallpaper, paint and more.

Hidden under all the materials is the heart of the piece, a velour tiger bedspread, a traditional Polynesian family gift. Lind staples down his culture in cloth pieces, from domestic life in the towelling and linoleum, to the family outings with the blue tarpaulin as shelter. From a male perspective Lind’s aggressive approach at an art form more commonly associated with Polynesian women is a constructive view of the everyday rather than the austere.

Lind has patched together his life into truly oroiginal works of art that manage to reflect both his cultural heritage and his formal art education. The scale of the works creates a contemplative space for the viewer to examine the pieces of Lind’s puzzle-like artworks.

2007