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Art at Albany library from Wallace trust

Monday 2 April 2012, 5:04PM

By Massey University

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Shannon Novak's work, Outer Tone Connection IV, at the Albany campus library. It is from a series of works on display around Auckland as part of his Tone Connections installation.
Shannon Novak's work, Outer Tone Connection IV, at the Albany campus library. It is from a series of works on display around Auckland as part of his Tone Connections installation. Credit: Massey University

Artwork symbolising sound, created by a Massey education graduate-turned-artist Shannon Novak, is adorning the walls of the Albany campus library in the coming weeks.

The series of coloured triangular shapes is part of a multi-space installation titled Tone Connections, which features companion pieces in other locations around the city. The mixed media installation has been placed on the Albany campus as part of a major work presented in collaboration with the Wallace Arts Trust, founded by art patron and collector James Wallace.

Mr Novak says his work creates a visual “sound network” with its central point in Pah House, Auckland – the home of the Wallace collection. Massey’s library at Albany is among a number of satellite sites, including other education and arts institutions, which are displaying visual representations of sound. The work will be on display for six weeks.

“The installation puts forward the idea that sound is part of us, of all we experience, all that exists,” he says.

Mr Novak is an emerging artist based in Auckland, whose focus is geometric abstraction and the use of geometric forms to represent his deep and abiding interest in the inter-relationships between sound, colour, form, time, space, and social context. His interest began when he became a pianist at an early age, taking his cues from both classical and modern schools of music and later composing and performing his own musical works. He gained a Master of Education with first class (honours) from Massey in 2009.

His work at Albany, Outer Tone Connection IV, fits among several works recently displayed on the Albany campus library as a long-term loan from the Wallace Arts Trust.

The 35 works, displayed throughout the library building, the Atrium building and in the Sir Neil Waters Lecture Theatre foyer, provide a significant boost in the amount of artwork located on campus, and complement the University’s own collection of art work, says Professor Kerry Chamberlain, chair of the Albany Visual Art Committee.

The loan contains important works from leading New Zealand artists such as John Pule, Peter Robinson, and William Sutton, alongside works from a number of emerging artists.

“It is essential to have art on campus, accessibly displayed to our community because it stimulates and challenges, and contributes to the nature of the University as a place for critical engagement with ideas,” says Professor Chamberlain.