CHAUNCEY FLAY
Nelson-based artist Chauncey Flay brings together a diverse range of materials including coral, concrete and stone, which are tied to key concepts around mortality, time and our relationship with the environment.
The provenance of materials forms an important aspect of his practice. This is explored through a laborious and physical process of deconstruction and reconstruction. Chauncey turns commonplace materials into objects with value and meaning, completely shifting our appreciation of them.
“In all my works there is a physical process of breaking and putting back together. The language of geometry references architecture as a healing and rebuilding process. The faceting of stone is a slow and meditative process that expresses the relationship between matter and time.”
The Seawall works are from a series of one hundred coral sculptures made during a nine-month self-directed residency in the Cook Islands during 2024–2025. They combine dead coral sourced from old building sites around Rarotonga with Polyfilla, fibre-cement board and concrete. Seawall works are reconstructed, repurposed and reimagined fragments of the environment—ironic souvenirs observing the fragility of coral reefs in the face of over-tourism and rising sea levels.
The Bunkers series investigates the idea of quarries as inverted landscapes. Large pieces of fragmented greywacke brought up from the quarry pit are further broken down and reconstructed into faceted, highly polished geometric forms. The stone fragments in each work are held together by magnets.