Montage of a preparatory drawing by Nishi of Gilbert Bayes’ The offerings of peace 1923. The sculpture will be enclosed within a temporary living space.

Recent visitors to the Art Gallery of NSW have been intrigued by the construction taking place around the two equestrian statues that flank the Gallery’s main entrance. In October 2009, all will be revealed as Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi presents the 19th Kaldor Public Art Project, entitled War and peace and in between.

Born Tazro Niscino, he works under a variety of names – Tatzu Nishi, Tatzu Oozu, and Tatsurou Bashi - and since the late 1990s has been creating out-of-scale and out-of-place encounters in public spaces around the world. In Sydney, using the name Nishi, his project involves enclosing the two Gilbert Bayes-designed statues (The Offerings of Peace and The Offerings of War) within room-like structures, decorated inside as a domestic bedroom and living room.

The public will enter the elevated rooms via ramps constructed between the top step of the Gallery and Nishi’s temporary structures. After passing through a lobby they will find themselves in a beautifully decorated living room in the case of Peace and a bedroom for War. Everything seems completely normal except that parts of a giant horse and rider will be wedged into the cabinet in the living room or seemingly wading through the snowdrift of sheets in the bedroom.

As the 19th Kaldor Public Art Project, Nishi’s work coincides with an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW marking the 40th anniversary of Kaldor Public Art Projects. Kaldor Public Art Projects is an organisation that aims to present groundbreaking contemporary art projects to the Australian public by collaborating with international and local artists to bring art to spaces outside galleries and museums. From the first iconic project in 1969 in which Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Sydney’s Little Bay coastline in thousands of metres of fabric, to Nishi’s current work, Kaldor Public Art Projects has been instrumental in exposing Australian audiences to cutting-edge contemporary art.

To celebrate the opening of War and peace and in between, the Art Gallery of NSW, Kaldor Public Art Projects and The Japan Foundation, Sydney are pleased to present an artist talk with Tatzu Nishi on 2 October 2009. In his talk, Nishi will discuss the inspiration behind his current work and his motivation behind creating such unique and fascinating works of art. For more information and to view detailed images of of Nishi’s past works please click here.