source: nzatvenice

Bill Culbert was born in 1935 in Port Chalmers, New Zealand. He trained as a painter in the 1950s at the Canterbury University School of Art in New Zealand and gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London in 1957. In the 1960s he began to experiment with light and movement, and since the 1970s his art has encompassed photography, electric light, and found objects.

Culbert has had numerous solo exhibitions in New Zealand, England, Europe, the United States, and Australia, and appeared in many group exhibitions. He has also produced major public sculptures in Christchurch, London, Auckland and Wellington. His art is surveyed in Ian Wedde’s Making Light Work (Auckland University Press, 2009).

Culbert resides in London and southern France, returning regularly to New Zealand to make and exhibit work. Recent exhibitions include 180° x 2 Whanganui (2009) and Everyday Irregular (2011) at the Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui; Singular Companions at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth; Hut at Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland; Light Marks at Laurent Delaye, London; and Concrete Parallels at the Centro Brasileiro Britânico and Dan Galeria in São Paulo (all 2012).
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source: designboom

bill culbert illuminates the architecture of the istituto santa maria della pietà, close to venice’s lagoon along the busy riva degli schiavoni. representing new zealand at the 55th international art exhibition, the artist debuts ‘front door out back’, an eight part installation which is thematically related to the domestic world, in which we see culvert employing furniture (from chairs, wardrobes, side tables), colourful detergent bottles, in combination with his signature medium, lighting, to create an entirely immersive experience for the viewer. the mundane objects are composed into simple arrangements which further emphasize ideas and notions related to the household–the placement of the plastic vessels covering the floor of the building’s main room, offer a dense carpet of color and light, or the network of chairs and tables cascading downwards all in combination with fluorescent tube lighting, suspended in the venue’s corridor harkening that of a chandelier. the artist lifts these objects out of their ordinary context, by forming a sculptural amalgamation of these pieces with an abundance of fluorescent light tubes, guiding visitors through the courtyards, rooms and hallways of la pietà by flowing around and often physically intersecting his sculptures. as one walks through the site of la pietà they will see how each of culvert’s works unfolds, playing off the qualities of the la pietà site. in the artist-s words, his aim is to introduce ‘an energy and simplicity’ to the setting, igniting the rooms and passage which are usually left uninhabited, transforming them into vibrant living spaces.