Ben Pearce

  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
  • Paper Pals
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Paper Pals, 2022
Steel, automotive paint
Price on request

Paper Pals is a signature work by Ben Pearce that transforms the ephemeral simplicity of origami into a large-scale, permanent sculpture. The series explores the intersection of memory and design, using the highly technical manipulation of steel and automotive paint to reactivate our inner child and allow our eyes to explore how light and shadow play on planes of folded colour.

The conceptual motivation behind creating these works emerged during the pandemic, when Pearce began making origami with his children. He quickly realised the sculptural potential of the art form and sought to create a suite of works that would bring joy after a turbulent time. He notes, "I wanted to create a suite of sculptures that brought joy after such a turbulent time."

The work delves into the duality of our experience: the sophisticated, geometric forms we design as adults versus the raw, imaginative structures we create as children. This tension is heightened by the materials; by using industrial steel, Pearce emphasizes the contrast between the material's permanence and the ephemeral nature of the memories and paper from which the form is derived.

He also finds duality in our relationship with animals: "I was also interested in this duality of how we relate to animals and how we project human characteristics onto them. We see ourselves as separate from them but it's nice to be reminded we are part of the animal kingdom."

Paper Pals stands as a nationally significant series, previously commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust for a large-scale public exhibition outside Te Papa Tongarewa.

Sited on the grassy expanse here at Brick Bay, the playful geometry of the forms creates a vibrant, unexpected conversation with the curve and colour of the landscape, reminding us of the simple pleasures to be found when we pause and look closely at the world.
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Paper Pals
Paper Pals
Paper Pals
Paper Pals
Paper Pals
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Paper Pals
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Paper Pals

More from this artist

Artist Bio

Pearce’s art explores memory and reconciles it with a recent and com­mon ‘ancestor’ to us all: childhood.

He strives to make visible the quirks and tragedies of our mind’s recording machi­nations, to materia­lize the emotional states that can cripple our bodies, and which often distortthe way we record time and memory.

The nature of this internal landscape is of interest to Pearce; his sculptures may exist within his internal world, but they also seek to co-exist as time-travelers in our own.

His recent work employs found objects that are reshaped into forms suggestive of scientific apparatus or adjunct experi­ments. Works shift from one material to another, chang­ing form and shape — shifting as if in a slow state of trans­mutation.

The assemblage work of Pearce regularly features rock like forma­tions, which often mimic every­dayobjects such as furniture or geol­ogical structures.

He is a New Zealand based sculptor who works with wood, stone, metal and found objects.

Pearce completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2003, majoring in sculp­ture at Whang­anui Quay School of Fine Arts and has exhibited regula­rly in New Zealand and Australia since.

His work has featured in shows discussing sculpture in New Zealand at City Art Gallery, Sergeant Gallery, Suter Gallery and Whakatāne Gallery. He has work held in the public and private collections.

His work ‘Great Grand­father Clock’ won the 2009 Waikato youth award, his work Mergar won the Moly Morpeth Canaday Award in 2014, and in 2016 Stone Age Eight Gauge won the Number 8 Wire Award.

He was selected by Warwick Brown for his collectors guide ‘Seen this Century’, which features 100 contem­porary New Zealand artists.