Boom Boom - the Taupō Sculpture Trust’s signature commissioning that it hopes will spark interest in its Riverside Park sculpture trail was a hit with invited guests at its unveiling on Friday afternoon.
It also sparked an instant reaction from the driver of a late model 4WD ute who managed to fling out a: “What a waste of bloody money!” as he headed down Tongariro Street towards the Control Gates Bridge before the ceremony proper began.
Following a formal blessing by Reverend Peace Mitchell of both Boom Boom and the trail, sculptor Gregor Kregar said he was relieved and satisfied that the five-year project had been realised and the sculpture was now finally in place.
The name had come about from discussion with trust chair Chris Martin, he said, and had replaced earlier thoughts “about reflections and water and some things like that.”
Kregar felt Boom Boom suited it well in a couple of ways.
The work referenced Taupō as a lake, but also as one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in the world.
“And you can imagine what kind of boom that was.”
Potentially, there would have been boulders, the size of the sculpture’s ‘rock’ or bigger blown out, he said.
Huge sauropod dinosaurs like that represented on top of the boulder would also have made a boom, boom sound as they walked.
“So, I think that it's very good title for him.”
Kregar’s seven-metre-high design features a large geodesic rock made of corten steel upon which sits a dinosaur of polished, marine grade stainless steel.
He hoped that people would fall in love with work.
“Most probably not everyone will love it, but public sculpture does that, especially when you put it in, some people might be, you know, a bit irritated, but then they slowly start to love it and so on. But sculpture is also here to provoke reaction.”
He could accept that reaction might not always be positive, “but it's like our emotions, sometimes we are a bit like that as well.”
At a brief function at Victoria’s Café following the ribbon cutting, Martin outlined the long and involved history of the commissioning of the work in 2019, delays or interruptions due to COVID and one sponsor pulling out and the trust having to raise the money again.
“But, you know, in the end, no one's going to remember any of that.”
The trust was thankful Kregar had stuck to the price given at the very beginning, despite increases in the prices of steel.
“So, he kept the faith, and we did too.”
Martin mirrored Kregar’s comments about art provoking a reaction.
Everyone in the room would have a different opinion about art, he said.
“Art should move you in some way, and I don't mind if it makes you a bit angry, happy, sad, makes you cry, or laugh, but it should move you.”
Sculpture trails overseas were major tourist attractions, he said.
Not everyone could afford a piece of sculpture or an expensive painting, but public art could provide something free to go and see and share and feel proud to be part of.
“We want to make this nationally a trail that's going to attract people to the town, that people can enjoy...”
“People will come and use cafés like this, they'll use the restaurants, they'll go around the whole city and buy things and it'll be a hugely successful thing, but we've just got to get it off the ground. You've got to start somewhere. So, we've started with Boom Boom, you know, and that's a great name to start something big I think.”
