Joe Sheehan (1976) explores the contemporary relevance and position of stone carving. His work looks at the commercialisation of the pounamu industry and the limitations it places on the material’s potential as a medium for a relevant art practice.

Joe Sheehan meticulously renders in pounamu objects such as ballpoint pens, sunglasses, AA batteries, a working light bulb, and a cassette tape that plays a recording of the river where the stone was found. By playing with social and cultural contexts and questioning the way we see things, Sheehan makes pounamu objects that speak first about their object status and second about their material.

"I feel privileged to work with greenstone. It is so deeply embedded in the fabric of our history that I think almost everyone in Aotearoa has some feeling for it. It's this significance which offers a unique opportunity to play and reflect on our culture as a whole." —JS

Sheehan also uses more utilitarian and everyday stone such as basalt, greywacke and argillite in his work, materials that were traditionally used for stone tools. In doing so, he draws parallels between the tools of the past and the tools of the new technological age.

All works courtesy of the artist and Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland.

Artwork: The Quick and the Dead