Artists > 2012: Flights of Fancy > Neville Gabie

Work

Neville Gabie’s quasi-heroic hunting, harvesting, transporting and maintenance of his two tons of Greenlandish ice echoes both the nineteenth century interest in re-location (Tatton, like most grand houses of its time imported ice from the North Pole) and our newfound societal interest in sustainability. Gabie’s work is problematic: should we be ‘harvesting’ ice from the Pole? We are told, if we don’t, it will simply melt as global temperatures incrementally rise. And why should the peoples of this region not find for themselves another natural resource that can be exchanged for apples, which they receive via ships from Spain? Gabie worked with the Sustainable Energy Research Group at Southampton University to ensure a new form of refrigeration could take place for the ice – solar powered cells and cool water added to the puzzle in these climatically-confused times. Such a lot of effort for art?

See Neville's blog documenting his travels to Greenland and back in the spring of 2010.

Biography

Neville Gabie was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1959. He studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London. His practice has always been driven by working in response to specific, usually urban, contexts beyond the studio. Motivated by a personal need to understand his own sense of place, Gabie’s interest is in establishing a working relationship within a particular environment as a means of considering its physical, cultural or emotional significance. His work is included in the Arts Council and Tate Gallery collections.

www.nevillegabie.com