Garry Neill Kennedy, Khyber Benefit ~ Waddintons Auction, March 8, 2012

And Still Counting

AND STILL COUNTING, Khyber Benefit ~ Waddington Auction, March 8.

Waddinton’s Contemporary Art Auction!

In 2009 the Khyber Arts Society and the Halifax Regional Municipality commissioned artist Garry Neill Kennedy to make an artwork of the 27 plywood inserts that temporarily replaced the windows while undergoing restorative replacement. The Khyber Centre for the Arts (formally the Church of England Institute) is a one of the City’s main cultural hubs for art and music, and also a significant Halifax Heritage Property, built in 1888.  The Khyber has been occupied by many different community oriented organizations over the past 40 years but most notably by the Khyber Arts Society for the past 15 years. The building also houses the main office for the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia.

For this artwork, And Still Counting, Kennedy has counted the number of windows on the building and then numbered the panels sequentially in brightly coloured paints. The numbers begin at the ground level (left) with number one and continue to the top floor with the final count, number 27.

Using household exterior latex paint Kennedy selected the colours based on the names of the manufacturer paint-chip titles that either relate to the Khyber building itself or it’s surrounding area (Turret Brown, Archeological Treasure, Playhouse Plum, City Song or Council Bluff, Ships at Sea). The colour of each number forms the foreground of the painting that follows.

The font for the numbers is Superstar Shadow,  a typeface that Kennedy uses in all of his architectural text artworks, the original idea for which was derived from the bold black and white numbers painted on the bows of the navy ships that enter Halifax harbour.

Now having been replaced with new windows, Kennedy’s plywood paintings will be sold by Waddintons’s auction house on March 8th, 2012.  For more information about this auction, please contact the Khyber or Waddington’s Auction House.

TEL: 902 422 9668
FAX: 902 404 3661
EMAIL:  info@khyber.ca
See related articles:
http://www.canadianart.ca/online/see-it/2009/03/26/garry-neill-kennedy/
http://www.thecoast.ca/ArtAttack/archives/2009/03/16/photo_of_garry_neill_kennedy_s
http://www.bordercrossingsmag.com/issue110/article/2644
http://www.mta.ca/owens/publications/catalogues/2006/superstarshadow.php
http://www.amazon.ca/Last-Art-College-Scotia-1968-1978/dp/0262016907/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329496638&sr=8-1-fkmr0
http://www.thecoast.ca/ArtAttack/archives/2010/03/12/art-history-with-the-khyber-and-eyelevel-gallery
http://www.thecoast.ca/ArtAttack/archives/2010/08/10/khyber-building-plan-goes-to-council-tonight
LIST OF COLOURS
1
Waterfront/ Beside the Ocean
2
Beside the Ocean/ Victorian Sage
3
Victorian Sage/ City Song
4
City Song/ Turret Brown
5
Turret Brown/ Council Bluff
6
Council Bluff/ Mystery Sound
7
Mystery Sound/ Archeological Treasure
8
Archeological Treasure/ Stage Fright
9
Stage Fright/ Meeting House
10
Meeting House/ Have No Fear
11
Have No Fear/ Ocean Breeze
12
Ocean Breeze/ Restoration Rose
13
Restoration Rose/ Ships at Sea
14
Ships at Sea/ Provicial Majesty
15
Provincial Majesty/ Palace Purple
16
Palace Purple/ Play House Plum
17
Play House Plum/ Party Place
18
Party Place/ Waterfront
19
Waterfront/ Beside the Ocean
20
Beside the Ocean/ Victorian Sage
21
Victorian Sage/ City Song
22
City Song/ Turret Brown
23
Turret Brown/ Council Bluff
24
Coucil Bluff/ Mystery Sound
25
Mystery Sound/ Archeological Treasure
26
Archeological Treasure/ Stage Fright
27
Stage Fright/ Waterfront

CIRCA 1995