Ray Haydon
Pyxis, 2019,
Carbon fibre, automotive paint, stone base, 2400 x 2600 x 2600mm
Ray Haydon’s Pyxis is a sleek kinetic work comprised of lines in motion and dynamic curves. Pyxis moves subtly in the wind in three parts from atop its stone plinth. An expression of lyricism and rhythm.
Pyxis takes its name from the night skies: it is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, its name is Latin for a Mariner’s compass and that is the form the sculpture moves into in the breeze. The forms also resembles the blades of a Samurai sword, or a machete, while at the same time calling to mind a birds wing or an abstraction of three birds in flight.
Haydon accomplishes simplicity and elegance in his sculptures seamlessly, this belies the fact that they are built with such a high level of technical expertise and skill. Pyxis is made from Carbon Fibre, a strong durable material which is then coated in automotive paint for a lustrous streamlined finish.
More from this artist
Artist Bio
BORN: 1950, Auckland
LIVES: Auckland
COLLECTIONS: The James Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland
PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS/COMMISSIONS: Commission for Newmarket Arts Trust, Teed Street Redevelopment, Newmarket (2017); Shapeshifter, Wellington (2016, 2014, 2010); NZ Sculpture On Shore, Auckland (2016, 2008); St Kentigern College, Auckland (2014); NZ Sculpture on the Gulf, Auckland (2012); Sculpture Court, Auckland Art Fair (2011); Sculpture in Central Otago, Otago (2007)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: Howard, Laura, Ray Haydon: Sculpture, Auckland: Sanderson Contemporary, 2014; Brown, Warwick, Seen this Century, North Shore City: Random House NZ, 2009; ‘Exploring space and absence’ by Terry McNamara, The New Zealand Herald, Aug 2009; ‘Earthy and Lyrical’, Art News New Zealand, Spring 2006, p 128
ARTWORKS FEATURED IN: The New Zealand Herald, Jan 2015; House and Garden, Jul 2014, Dec 2012, Mar 2011, Jan 2010; Homestyle New Zealand, Dec/Jan 2014; Home New Zealand, Apr/May 2011, Feb/Mar 2011, Dec/Jan 2011, Apr/May 2008, Dec/Jan 2008; Design Folio: New Zealand’s Definitive Design Collection, Issue 4, 2011; Urbis, Luxury Issue, No. 47, 2009; NZ Life and Leisure, Jan/Feb 2008; Reynolds, Patrick and John Walsh, New New Zealand Houses, Auckland: Random House NZ, 2007, pp 12, 164-172; Urbis Landscape, Feb-Apr 2006; Urbis, Summer 2005-2006
