2006 COMMISSION 20 YEARS LATER: MICHAEL PAREKŌWHAI’S COSMO MCMURTRY RETURNS
Picture this: it’s 2006 and you’re in the Royal Exhibition Building, looking up at a looming, inflatable bunny. Two decades ago, a gigantic inflatable bunny took pride of place in the middle of Melbourne Art Fair. This looming, adorable piece was created by acclaimed New Zealand sculptor Michael Parekōwhai, who was commissioned by us at the Melbourne Art Foundation and National Gallery of Victoria to shape a piece for the 2006 Fair. Now, 20 years after that initial showing, Cosmo McMurtry has made a return. We’ve brought him out of storage for another moment of glory.
“Wow. 20 years. It seems like yesterday. It’s good work. It endures and has a quality that maintains and holds currency….Cosmo reminds me of the friendly Disney or mischievous Beatrix Potter creations. But our eight-metre wee bunny raises its own questions around a particular time in our collective past, the fallout of colonisation and the reframing of national symbols as trash or treasure … or both.”
-Michael Parekōwhai on the return of Cosmo.
Michael Parekōwhai’s Cosmo McMurtry is caught in the headlights or perhaps he’s looking down the barrel of a shotgun. Either way, he’s running scared. He seems to be the underdog, but don’t be fooled by his cute exterior.
Rabbits are perennially popular as cartoon characters (Bugs, Roger, Bunnikins etc.) but they are also a highly problematic presence in rural Australia and New Zealand where escalating populations have made them a noxious pest. They’re a monumental problem for local fauna and flora. The title of this sculpture is based upon New Zealand actor Jim Cosmo, best known for his portrayal of the archetypal ‘man of the land’. Cosmo McMurtry stands for the individual and the masses, hero and villain, hunter and hunted. It’s hard to know whether he’s a good guy or not.
Cosmo McMurtry was funded by the Melbourne Art Foundation and former Board members, Christopher Hodges, Leo Christie OAM, Richard Frolich, Jan Minchin, Martin Beaver and Roslyn Oxley, the Myer Foundation, the National Gallery of Victoria and Michael Lett.
Established in 2006, the Melbourne Art Foundation Commission program provides living artists with an opportunity to realise a large-scale work for unveiling at Melbourne Art Fair, which is later gifted to a prominent institution.
Previous partners in the program have included Govett Brester Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, AGWA, ACMI, HOTA Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, NGV, QAGOMA, the University of Queensland Art Museum, MCA, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia; and artists Dawn Ng, Yona Lee, Julie Rrap, Kaylene Whiskey, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Ronnie van Hout, Michael Parekōwhai, David Griggs, Peter Hennessey, Jon Campbell, Ian Burns, and Mikala Dwyer.
