Peter Gouge, Everything Stops for the Baby
Peter Gouge
Everything Stops for the Baby
Melanie Roger Gallery
444 Karangahape Rd
Newton
Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland)
Aotearoa (New Zealand)
23 September – 10 October 2020
Originally presented as his final exhibition for his MFA from the University of Florida, Peter Gouge exhibits Everything Stops for the Baby after recently returning to New Zealand from six years living in the USA, a new project at Melanie Roger Gallery for ArtWeek 2020.
“This project exists in two parts. For my family, it consists of five painted pieces of carpet shaped to cover loose and rubbing floorboards in the living room of the apartment I share with my wife and son. The carpets are functional––warning us and our visitors to avoid stepping in these noisy spaces when our newborn is sleeping. Transplanting the carpets from our apartment to the gallery would destroy this function. Instead, the documents and materials displayed to the public utilise a combination of media–– photography, drawing, painting, and programmed electronics––to communicate the function and presence of the carpets without removing them from their context.”