Overthenet (OTN) have just made their 1500th posting. I congratulate Jim Barr & Mary Barr most sincerely. It is a remarkable achievement. Not only does it take discipline and stamina to sustain this output but they are almost a lone voice in the New Zealand art scene. Few others ask such important questions of art establishments and in such a prolonged way, most of us wouldn’t dare. Or, if we worked in a university or a civic art gallery, we probably wouldn’t be allowed even if we secretly agreed.
I started blogging just a few weeks before they began, if my memory serves me correctly, if not I apologise, and I am only just in reach of 600. My blogging stamina has seriously fallen off in recent months, I’m worn out, and going through a demoralised phase in my life so I particularly appreciate what they do. I haven’t taken a new photo for many months although I am trying to view this as an incubation period.
The posting that I have linked to today is one that they have chosen to mark the occasion of their 1500th. That is me on the left in this image taken more than 20 years ago. The photo is from the Barr’s extensive archives.
I have observed them building these archives since about 1975 or 76, when Jim was director of the Dowse and I had my first public gallery exhibition there. Don Driver was also exhibiting on that occasion.
PS the photo of the quail I took last year at Henderson House where I was artist-in-residence. I fed the quail and they became so tame that they even came inside, a practise I had to discourage quite promptly as two or three tried to take a shortcut to the outside and killed themselves on the window panes. There is always a member of the group, who stood up on a high perch, acting as a sentinel. This is one of those. Sometimes there were about 30 in the groups. We need more sentinels.
I do not have any more of these available for sale so anyone wanting one has had to wait for one
to come onto the secondary market. This is something that has hardly ever happened, as owners of the prints enjoyed them too much, and also seemed to be aware that it was, in the future, going to be much more valuable.
Now, however, in the latest Webb’s auction catalogue one has appeared. Estimated price range is from $4000-$6000 which is, rather low, but typical of auction prices.
In the previous auction, works from the Jim Fraser collection, there were also several of my photos sold including Meccano Bus. The estimate on this was $3000-$5000 and it sold for $6000, setting what Webb’s say is a new record for a single image in one of their sales. (Although I’m not entirely sure if this is true, true for one of my images yes, but others may have bettered this. I my be wrong.)
