Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand
A research initiative based at Toi Rauwhārangi Massey University College of Creative Arts.
Artist: Roy Cowan
Title: Unknown
Medium: Unknown
Dimensions: Unknown
Date: 1970
Original location: BP House, 20 Customhouse Quay, CBD, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Architect: Stephenson & Turner
Current location: Unknown
Heritage status: None known
Located in the foyer of the BP House theaterette, this wall sculptures included built-in lighting.
Little is known about this work, or its fate. Please contact us if you have any information.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Seascape
Medium: Cast aluminium, 19 panels
Dimensions: H2940 x W2120 x D70mm
Date: 1983
Original location: Wool House (New Zealand Wool Board Building), cnr Customhouse Quay, Featherston & Brandon Sts, CBD, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Architect: Stephenson & Turner
Current location: Collection of Ron Sang
Heritage status: None known
Seascape is an abstract work made out of 19 panels of cast aluminium. Originally installed in the New Zealand Wool Board building known as “Wool House” in Wellington’s CBD, the work was later removed and put into storage. Some years later, architect Ron Sang acquired the piece and relocated it to his home in Epsom, Auckland, where it remains.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Data General
Medium: Stainless Steel with reflective adhesive
Dimensions: Unknown
Date: 1984
Original location: Data General entrance lobby, 76 Boulcott St (off Plimmer Steps), CBD, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Architect: Unknown
Current location: Lost
Heritage status: None known.
Ngan’s Data General mural extended along the corridors of a commercial building in central Wellington. Somewhat optically challenging as an artwork, rectangles of 3M reflective adhesive dance up and down the walls, punctuated by stainless steel strips. Horizontal and vertical lines collide, enhanced by fluorescent lighting strips on a reflective ceiling. Ngan’s idea was to bring in some light to an otherwise dark entrance way.
Ngan would later experiment with reflective surfaces in his mural for the National Bank in Hamilton.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Untitled
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions: 1.3m³ (4ft cube)
Date: 1972
Original location: Wainuiomata Shopping Mall, 18 The Strand, Wainuiomata, Te Awakairangi Lower Hutt
Architect: Stephenson & Turner
Current location: Missing
Heritage status: None known
Having already mastered a range of paint, wood, concrete, and metal media, Guy Ngan elected, in the early 1970s, to turn his artistic hand to a new material: plastic. Wainuomata Shopping Mall became the home of his only known public sculpture in acrylic.
In 1972, a designscape article recorded Ngan as considering himself to be ‘Playing around with plastics’, stating that he was not completely satisfied with the results.
Little is known about this work, or its fate. Please contact us if you have any information.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Untitled
Medium: Aluminium, light fittings
Dimensions: H970 x W2480 x D200mm
Date: 1975
Original location: Windermere Apartments Foyer, 6 The Promenade, Takapuna, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Architect: TBC
Current location: In situ
Heritage status: No known protection
Ngan’s wall sculpture for Takapuna’s Windermere Apartments was perfectly designed to fit in harmony with the apartment’s sleek modern interior. Fully functional, it is an exceptional example of Ngan’s technique of creating wall sculptures with built-in lighting.
The work features five lake-like holes, perhaps a reference to the apartment’s name (Windermere is one of several lakes in England’s Lake District National Park) and the proximity of the apartment building to Lake Pupuke: a renowned geographic feature of the area.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: National Bank Hamilton
Medium: TBC (possibly red paint with white reflective material)
Dimensions: TBC
Date: 1985
Original location: National Bank Branch, Ground Floor, 527-529 Victoria St, CBD, Kirikiriroa Hamilton
Architect: TBC
Current location: Unknown
Heritage status: TBC
The site is now an ANZ bank branch.
Very little is known about this work, or its fate. Please contact us if you have any information.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Jasmin Licensed Chinese Restaurant
Medium: Mixed media including restaurant décor (colour scheme and furniture), brand/logo design, silk-screen printed room divider panels, and a paint & bamboo diptych.
Dimensions: Variable
Date: 1983
Original location: Jasmin Licensed Chinese Restaurant, Mezzanine level, James Cook Arcade, 294-296 Lambton Quay, CBD, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
Architect: tbc
Current location: The décor largely remains as it originally was. The paint and bamboo diptych has been removed, and remains held by the family of the original owner.
Heritage status: None as yet
During the early eighties, Ngan was responsible for the interior design and branding of the new Jasmin Licensed Chinese Restaurant. His creative contribution was extensive and included floor plans, designs for the restaurant’s brand/logo, interior décor (including colour scheme and furniture manufactured by Formway), silk-screen printed room divider panels, and a mixed-media painting diptych.
Sold by the original owner to a long-serving employee, the décor of the restaurant largely remains as it originally was. The paint & bamboo diptych was removed and remains in the possession of the family of the original owner.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Untitled
Medium: Aluminium
Dimensions: TBC
Date: 1981
Original location: Birkenhead Post Office, 22 Mokoia Rd, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Architect: Ron Sang
Current location: Unknown
Heritage status: TBC
The Birkenhead Post Office was originally designed and built by Mark-Brown Fairhead in 1975. Ron Sang was later commissioned by the Ministry of Works to undertake alterations, and it was at this stage that he commissioned Guy Ngan to complete his koru-inspired feature wall artwork. Work by Don Driver, and Dinah Priestley & Tony Burton were also included in the development.
This work is no longer in place, its fate unknown. If you have any information, please let us know.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Untitled
Medium: Stained & varnished chipboard, wire, screws, rods (aluminium or acrylic tbc)
Dimensions: W3045mm x H1000mm x D350mm
Date: 1980
Original location: NZ Wire (now Pacific Steel), 5 Beach Rd, Favona, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Architect: TBC
Current location: In situ
Heritage status: TBC
Little is known about the commissioning circumstances behind this work. If you have any information, please let us know.
Artist: Guy Ngan
Title: Untitled
Medium: Stainless steel
Dimensions: TBC
Date: 1979
Original location: Aotea Lagoon Rose Garden, Papakowhai Rd, Papakowhai, Porirua
Architect: n/a
Current location: In situ
Heritage status: TBC
Some limited information is attached to the sculpture that confirms the sculpture was “Made by Chubb Lock and Safe”. The logo for Rotary International is also included, suggesting they may have commissioned the sculpture.
Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand 