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Lot 18: FIONA PARDINGTON A001171

Est: $25,000 NZD - $35,000 NZDSold:
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers’Auckland, New ZealandNovember 23, 2020

Item Overview

Description

Fiona Pardington

A001171

2019

pigment inks on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, edition of 10

signed F Pardington in ink verso

1100 x 1460mm

PROVENANCE

Private collection, Auckland.

Fiona Pardington - A001171

Essay by ANDREW PAUL WOOD

Fiona Pardington (MNZM, Chevalier Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe and Ngāti Kahungunu and Clan Cameron of Erracht) found this figure among a collection of similar objects in the Wellcome Collection in London, on loan to the Science Museum Group. Nineteenth-century pharmaceutical entrepreneur Henry Wellcome (1853-1936) was an avid collector of medical antiquities, an interest that extended to the health and spiritual practices of other cultures.

At first glance it looks like a hei-tiki, but it isn't a genuine taonga and therein lies the mystery. It is clearly not a mass-produced tourist tchotchke either - care and attention has gone into its making. We are unlikely to ever find out who made it, Māori, Pākehā, or perhaps even a German carver from the workshops of Saxony or Rhineland. From this strange collection Pardington created the TIKI: Orphans of Māoriland suite of photographs in 2019.

Wellcome purchased these faux-tiki from London auction houses. What we can say about them is that they were most likely made for the local Pākehā, or European, market. Art historian Roger Blackley called it the "curio economy," the trade in Māori artifacts that flourished between 1880 and 1910. In this colonial period New Zealand was sometimes referred to as 'Maoriland' - when Pākehā were developing a nascent sense of national identity distinct from Britain, and Māori were fighting to keep control of their identity, representation, culture and land.¹

Pardington, viewing these objects through the lens of her own bicultural Māori and Pākehā ancestry, felt drawn to these objects and their cultural liminality. The resulting photographs offer an interesting counterpoint to Pardington's photographs of genuine hei-tiki, but her interest in bicultural in-between-ness and hybridity can be traced all the way back to her 1996 photograph of a bar of '˜Taniwha' brand soap.

As with her photographs of taonga, Pardington takes a reparative, aesthetic approach that draws us in with the beauty of the image before we have a chance to consider all its implications and possible meanings.² A tight focus and concentration of multiple sources of light - fluorescent, LED and incandescent - on the subject, in interaction with the light-absorbing qualities of the black velvet backcloth, invests it with a luminous aura of animistic presence and significance. The smearing effect of the exposure animates the artefact as if it is moving, ghostly and somehow alive.

Pardington recognises that these objects have something to say about where we've come from and perhaps were we are going. They are not insincere. They are not kitsch. They have an existence and an integrity all in their own right. They're trying to tell us something and Pardington's photographs ask that we stop and listen to what that might be.

1 Roger Blackley, Galleries of Maoriland: Artists, Collectors and the Māori World, 1880-1910. (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2018)

2 Susan Best, Reparative Aesthetics: Witnessing in Contemporary Art Photography. (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.) Chapter 4 passim.

Artist or Maker

Payment & Shipping

Payment

Accepted forms of payment: American Express, COD (cash on delivery), MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Other, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

SHIPPING
For shipping both national and international we recommend the services of Pack and Send Ltd, who work closely with our business to enable the safe return of your new purchase.
All costs associated with the freight of your goods (packaging, shipping, consumables etc) are to be paid by the purchaser, in addition to the winning bid.

Details for Pack and Sends are listed below, or please feel free to organise another contractor of your choice.

Pack and Send Ltd
+64 9 909 9099
aucklandcity@packsend.co.nz
Contact: Neel

COLLECTION
Purchases are to be taken away at the buyer's expense immediately after the sale once payment in full has been made. If this is not done, Mosgreen-Webb's will not be responsible if the lot is lost stolen damaged or destroyed. Any payment by cheque will not be considered paid until the payment has cleared. Any items not collected within seven days of the auction may be subject to a storage and insurance fee. A receipted invoice must be produced prior to delivery of any lot.

Auction Details

Works of Art

by
Webb’s – Specialist Auctioneers’
November 23, 2020, 06:30 PM NZST

33a Normanby Rd Mt Eden, Auckland, 1024, NZ

Terms

Buyer's Premium

17.5%

Bidding Increments

From:To:Increment:
$0$499$20
$500$999$50
$1,000$1,999$100
$2,000$4,999$200
$5,000$9,999$500
$10,000$19,999$1,000
$20,000$49,999$2,000
$50,000$99,999$5,000
$100,000$199,999$10,000
$200,000$499,999$20,000
$500,000+$50,000

Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions For Buyers

1. BIDDING
The highest bidder shall be the purchaser subject to the auctioneer having the right to refuse the bid of any person. Should any dispute arise as to the bidding the lot in dispute will be immediately put up for sale again at the preceding bid or the auctioneer may declare the purchaser which declaration shall be conclusive. No person shall advance less as a bid than the sum nominated by the auctioneer. A bid may be withdrawn before the auctioneer declares that bidding on a lot is closed.
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All lots are sold subject to the right of the seller or his agent to impose a reserve.
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Purchasers shall complete a bidding card before the sale giving their own correct name address and telephone number. It is accepted by bidders that the supply of false information on a bidding card shall be interpreted as deliberate fraud.
4. BUYERS' PREMIUM
The purchaser accepts that Mossgreen-Webb's will apply a buyer's premium which is charged in addition to the hammer price (unless otherwise stated) together with GST on the premium, which combined sum shall be the total purchase price. The rate of Buyers Premium is published in each catalogue online in conjunction with the catalogue. Please note that there is a minimum Buyers' Premium of 17.5%.
5. PAYMENT
Payment for all items purchased is due on the day of sale immediately following completion of the sale. If full payment cannot be made on the day of sale a deposit of 10% of the total sum due must be made on the day of sale and the balance must be paid, in clear funds, within 5 working days. Mossgreen Webbs accepts Cash, Eftpos, Visa and Mastercard (with a 2.2% merchant fee) and Amex (with a 3.3% merchant fee). Personal Cheques are accepted though goods will not be released until funds are cleared.
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They have full discretion to conduct all aspects of the sale and to withdraw any lot from the sale without giving any reason.
8. COLLECTION
Purchases are to be taken away at the buyer's expense immediately after the sale once payment in full has been made. If this is not done, Mossgreen-Webb's will not be responsible if the lot is lost stolen damaged or destroyed. Any payment by cheque will not be considered paid until the payment has cleared.
Any items not collected within seven days of the auction may be subject to a storage and insurance fee. A receipted invoice must be produced prior to delivery of any lot.
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10. FAILURE TO MAKE PAYMENT
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b. To rescind the sale of that or any other lot sold to the purchaser at the same
or any other auction.
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d. To store the lot whether at Mossgreen-Webb's own premises or elsewhere at the sole expense of the purchaser and to release the lot only after the purchase price has been paid in full plus the accrued cost of removal storage and all other costs connected to the lot.
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f. To retain possession of that or any other lot purchased by the purchaser at that or any other auction and to release the same only after payment of money due.
g. To apply the proceeds of sale of any lot then or subsequently due to the purchaser towards settlement of money due to Mossgreen-Webb's or it's vendor. Mossgreen-Webb's shall be entitled to a possessory lien on any property of the purchaser for any purpose while any money remains unpaid under this contract.
h. To apply any payment made by the purchaser to Mossgreen-Webb's towards any money owing to Mossgreen-Webb's in respect of anything whatsoever irrespective of any directive given in respect of or restriction placed upon such payment by the purchaser whether expressed or implied.
i. Title and right of disposal of the goods shall not pass to the purchaser until payment has been made in full by cleared funds. Where any lot purchased in held by Mossgreen-Webb's pending i. clearance of funds by the purchaser or ii. completion of payment after receipt of a deposit the lot will be held by Mossgreen-Webb's as bailee for the vendor risk and title passing to the purchaser immediately upon notification of clearance of funds or upon completion of purchase. In the event that a lot is lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed before title is transferred to the purchaser, the purchaser shall be entitled to a refund of all monies paid to Mossgreen-Webb's in respect of that lot but shall not be entitled to any compensation for any consequent losses howsoever arising.
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Shipping & Collection

SHIPPING
For shipping both national and international we recommend the services of Pack and Send Ltd, who work closely with our business to enable the safe return of your new purchase.
All costs associated with the freight of your goods (packaging, shipping, consumables etc) are to be paid by the purchaser, in addition to the winning bid.

Details for Pack and Sends are listed below, or please feel free to organise another contractor of your choice.

Pack and Send Ltd
+64 9 909 9099
aucklandcity@packsend.co.nz
Contact: Neel

COLLECTION
Purchases are to be taken away at the buyer's expense immediately after the sale once payment in full has been made. If this is not done, Mosgreen-Webb's will not be responsible if the lot is lost stolen damaged or destroyed. Any payment by cheque will not be considered paid until the payment has cleared. Any items not collected within seven days of the auction may be subject to a storage and insurance fee. A receipted invoice must be produced prior to delivery of any lot.