Bedwyr Williams

1 used car - 24 paintings - 24 hours
Thursday 12 February 2009, 00:00-24.00
Around Wellington, beginning and ending at the carpark next to Enjoy,
Swan Lane, off Cuba Street

Join the mad dash at any point during the 24 hours - from midnight (Weds/Thurs) and the starting line outside Enjoy, or Mt Victoria lookout or Watusi for a drink at the start of Williams' mission. Later locations will include the Brooklyn wind turbine at sunrise, the lion enclosure at Wellington zoo, a pie shop in Petone and Breaker Bay at sunset. See below for the full schedule and keep an eye out throughout the day as locations include both the picturesque and the idiosyncratic, and you won't want to miss him in action! 

Times and subjects to be painted:

(see under PDF catalogue at bottom of this page for PDF downloadable maps to the more hard-to-find locations)

00.00-01.00
Wellington from Mt Victoria lookout
01.00-02.00
Watusi, (Bar) 6 Edward St, Wellington
02.00-03.00
The Moon
03.00-04.00
Warehouse with Japanese style mural, waterfront
04.00-05.00
Telegraph Mast seen from afar
05.00-06.00
Security Guard, CBD
06.00-07.00
Skate Park near Te Papa, Cable St
07.00-08.00
Win Turbine, Brooklyn
08.00-09.00
Radar Station seen from Brooklyn wind turbine
09.00-10.00
Lions' Enclosure at Wellington Zoo
10.00-11.00
Greek Orthodox Church, 23 Bay St, Petone
11.00-1200
Pie Shop, the Esplanade, Petone, viewed from playground
12.00-13.00
Cable Car from Botanical gardens end, Upland Rd, Kelburn
13.00-14.00
Basin Reserve seen from Mt Vic lookout
14.00-15.00
Mount Vic Tunnel (no room for spectators)
15.00-16.00
Control Tower, 36 Tirangi Rd, Rongotai
16.00-17.00
Airport Runway from Cobham Dr, Evans Bay
17.00-18.00
Massey Memorial, Massey Rd, North end of Mirimar Peninsula
18.00-19.00
House in Cave, Point Dorset, between Seatoun Beach & Breaker Bay
19.00-20.00
Guitar maker (private residence)
20.00-21.00
Sunset at Wahine Park, Breaker Bay
21.00-22.00
Welsh Society (private residence)
22.00-23.00
Carillion (war memorial) Buckle St
23.00-00.00
Self-Portrait in carpark next to Enjoy
00.00
Grand finale display of 24 completed paintings

Feeling that every one of the 24 hours should count, Bedwyr Williams' contribution to the One Day Sculpture series brings us the union of motor-sports and art. Williams' work will take the form of an art gumball rally around Wellington, a rally where he is the only contestant. Requiring exceptional endurance, this event will see him attempting to complete 24 paintings in 24 hours travelling from location to location in a used station wagon.

The subjects of Williams' paintings will vary - from people and landscapes, to pets and buildings. Working spontaneously, Williams will lay himself bare to the rattle and unpredictability of everyday life on Wellington's streets and byways, creating a build up of both anticipation and art. Growing over the day, Le ‘Welsh' Man's 24hour will culminate in a grand unveiling of 24 paintings - the physical and visual interpretations of his subjects.

When producing his One Day Sculpture project, Williams will draw on the quirky banalities of his own autobiographic existence - an extraordinarily tall Welsh man and artist arriving in New Zealand for the first time. He'll spend his research time trawling the streets of Wellington to map out a one-man marathon, and following that will attempt an epic and mobile reproduction of his encounters and experiences of life in Wellington. The results of his intense art rally will accumulate by the hour, stored in a rack on the roof of the car to speed up the drying process.
The curator of Le ‘Welsh' Man's 24hour Siv B. Fjærestad notes: "the project can be viewed equally as a race against the limitations of art itself, or being an artist today and the pressure of applying an artistic/anthropological observation to place and locality."

You have to be there. This one cannot be missed!
Keep an eye on Bedwyr Williams' daily blog at http://bedwyrwilliams.wordpress.com for updated info about his movements, plans and encounters in Wellington.

Bedwyr Williams' One Day Sculpture Le ‘Welsh' Man's 24 hour is commissioned by Enjoy Public Art Gallery. Curated by Siv B. Fjærestad. The project is realised with the generous support of Wales Art International, The British Council, Wellington City Council Public Art fund, Creative New Zealand. Thanks! One Day Sculpture is a New Zealand-wide series of temporary public artworks. A Massey University College of Creative Arts, School of Fine Arts, Litmus Research Initiative.

About Bedwyr Williams
Employing both engaged criticality and a sense of quick-witted surrealistic humour, Williams explores contemporary issues of identity, location and culture, and what it means to be an artist under such conditions. He often draws upon the quirky banalities of his own autobiographical existence to develop his sculptures and performances, merging art and life with a comedic twist. Williams' constructed environments and cultural commentary present extraordinary encounters for diverse audiences, encouraging them to think of their local surroundings in news ways.