Steve Carr is a leading New Zealand artist working predominantly across film, photography and sculpture. Within Carr’s practice, a preoccupation with controlled experiments, processes and outcomes is evident, manifesting in moments of subtle, humorous, and sometimes violent material transformation. Seemingly banal events – such as paint-filled balloons popped with a needle or a bubble meeting its demise on the tip of a cactus – are brought to life in real time, slow motion, loops and time lapse. Through the depiction of these somewhat incongruous actions, Carr resists the kinds of detached spectatorship induced by the current era of unprecedented visual stimuli, encouraging time for sustained observation and reflection.
Carr has exhibited extensively across New Zealand and Australia, including Christchurch Art Gallery (2021); Dunedin Public Art Gallery (2021); Tauranga Art Gallery, (2021); Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington (2020); City Gallery, Wellington (2019); Govett-Brewster/Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth (2017); Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (2016); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2019); Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland (2013); and Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2012). His works are held in the collections of many of these major institutions.
Transpiration
2014
six-channel colour video projection
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand
Transpiration
2014
six-channel colour video projection
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand
Transpiration
2014
six-channel colour video projection
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand
Dead Time
2012
7 channel installation
Duration: 520 seconds, Edition of 3
Dead Time
2012
installation view
Winter Feeding #4
2015
HD Camera
endless loop
Winter Feeding #5
2015
HD Camera
endless loop
Variations For Troubled Hands #6
2015
ink jet on rag photographique
22.0 x 16.5 cm (17 individual photographs)
Installation view
2015
Installation view
2015
A Manual for Small Archives
2016
installation view
A Manual for Small Archives
2016
installation view
Albedo, Flavedo No.1
2020
hand carved Tākaka NZ marble, coloured ink pigment, brass
height variable, 8.0 cm ⌀
Albedo, Flavedo No.8
2020
hand carved Tākaka NZ marble, coloured ink pigment, brass
height variable, 8.0 cm ⌀
Albedo, Flavedo No.9
2020
hand carved Tākaka NZ marble, coloured ink pigment, brass
height variable, 8.0 cm ⌀
Albedo, Flavedo No.10
2020
hand carved Tākaka NZ marble, coloured ink pigment, brass
height variable, 8.0 cm ⌀
The Fallen Man
2020
Installation view
The Fallen Man
2020
Installation view
The First Morning
2020
Detail view
The First Morning
2020
Detail view
Albedo, Flavedo
2020
Installation view
Albedo, Flavedo
2020
Installation view
Albedo, Flavedo
2020
Installation view
The First Morning
2020
installation view
Albedo, Flavedo
2020
Installation view
The First Morning
2020
Detail view
The First Morning
2020
detail view
The First Morning
2020
detail view
Dead Time No.7
2012
single channel digital video, colour, silent
duration: 520 seconds
Poinsettia
2011
type c photograph, edition of 3
124.0 x 114.0 cm (frame size)
Preening Peacock
2009
type c photograph, edition of 3
124.0 x 114.0 cm (frame size)
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blu-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blu-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blue-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Turkey Shoot
2009
HD video file, edition of 3
17 min 45 sec
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blu-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Dead Time
2012
7 channel installation
Duration: 520 seconds, Edition of 3
echo (installation view)
2018
HD mp4, with sound component
11 minutes, 53 seconds (looped)
echo (installation view)
2018
HD mp4, with sound component
11 minutes, 53 seconds (looped)
The Fallen Man
2020
Installation view
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blu-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blu-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Screen Shots
2011
HD file transferred to Blu-Ray
26 min 22 sec
Wiesbaden
2009
type c photograph, edition of 3
124.0 x 114.0 cm (frame size)
Queen Anne
2009
type c photograph, edition of 3
124.0 x 114.0 cm (frame size)
Turkey Shoot
2009
HD video file, edition of 3
17 min 45 sec
Turkey Shoot
2009
HD video file, edition of 3
17 min 45 sec
Turkey Shoot
2009
HD video file, edition of 3
17 min 45 sec
Dead Time
2012
7 channel installation
Duration: 520 seconds, Edition of 3
Transpiration
2014
six-channel colour video projection
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand