Anton Parsons
‘I do like a message to be buried in the work, but it is hidden and isn’t necessarily meant to be found. It means as much to me that the viewer might impose their own interpretation on the work.’
Anton Parsons is a New Zealand sculptor, who graduated from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, Christchurch, in 1990.
Anton's practice incorporates a range of media, using industrial materials, readymade objects, photography, and installation to create 'sculpted materials' which are conceptually permutable - mirroring the artist's own continually evolving conceptual position. While stylistically simple, these striking 'sculpted materials' engage physical space in profound and, at times, disconcerting ways.
Anton states, however, that art interpretation and experience does not necessarily need to be constrained to the artist's own views and intentions, leaving his works characteristically open to interpretation.
"In that sense, I am a little unusual I suppose. I do like a message to be buried in the work, but it is hidden and isn't necessarily meant to be found. It means as much to me that the viewer might impose their own interpretation on the work. It's like when someone has a favourite song, but doesn't know the words or mishears them and gets them wrong. Does it take anything away from the song that the listener has a different idea of what it's about, or gets pleasure from it thinking the words are nonsensical? I don't think so."
He often creates large-scale, site-specific work; including a number of public works such as Invisible City, 2003 (Wellington), Numbers , 2007 (Palmerston North) and Passing Time, 2010 (Christchurch)
