Pure Gold Rust-Oleum spray paint, blackboard paint, oil enamel on found metal salvaged from Tina's garden (Island Bay)

590 x 455 mm

Oil pastel on black chalkboard paint on canvas

250 x 250 mm

Copper gifted from Pete, variable screws, copper nails, timber structure salvaged from Island Bay Glass when it was left out on the street, metal wire found in Le Bons Bay, Olivia’s old moped part, found rubber tubing, red wine, copper pipes, dried roses, brass chain, Pāua shell from Island Bay Beach, linen, copper wiring, ceramic vessel

2000 x 1300 x 700 mm (dimensions variable)

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Gold oil enamel, white oil paint, gloss black oil paint on found wood from the Gordon’s garden shed

265 x 247 mm

Acrylic paint, black chalkboard paint, oil pastel, white oil enamel on bitumen paper

906 x 735 mm

Made in collaboration with James Warrender

Sold: Zero Ten Gallery Debut Show, May 2024

Provenance: Waikanae

Mirror shards, shattered glass, glass bowl, sphagnum moss, copper

500 x 500 x 440 mm

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Metal wine rack, 14 plaster-bandaged bottles, 14 sunflowers

770 x 480 x 360 mm

Oil paints on canvas

Provenance: Auckland

Collage and ink on archival paper, gold embossed frame

Made in Paul Johns’ studio, Christchurch

402 x 305 mm

Sold: Zero Ten Gallery Debut Show, May 2024

Provenance: Karori

Ink on note paper (2020) adhered to bitumen roofing paper, oil pastel bearing the artist’s name, glass pane, candle wax and adhered Polaroid portrait of self by Rosie McRobie at the Lighthouse Island Bay, brass frame. 2021

15.5 x 10.7 cm

White oil paint, gold oil enamel and white oil enamel on black oil enamel on canvas, copper nail, glass, artist's skin, epoxy

200 x 200 x 40 mm

300 x 80 x 80 mm

Oil enamel paint, oil pastel on hardboard

970 x 472 x 19 mm

Metal stand, welded pipe, epoxy, steel, weld marks, two rocks from Island Bay beach, suspended steel chains as a necklace holding a cross welded into a sphere, worn on the artist’s trip to Whanganui in November 2022
47 x 13 x 13 cm

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7943 spaces typewritten on to document, printed and scanned

210 x 297 mm

Driftwood, hoe handle, nail, plaster, two speaker parts, sweetpea pods from BH studio garden

165 x 54 x 36.5 cm

Primer, Resene Lustacryl semigloss waterborne enamel paint, Rust-oleum Universal pure gold spray paint, Norski Satin Polyurethane varnish on found oriented strand board left on the street bearing the word 'free', collected by the artist to make art of, signed and dated by the artist lower right, with details verso. This artwork was then placed back outside on Cuba Street, 2021-2022 (Editions 1-3 exist). All works have subsequently been "collected".

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Gold oil enamel and gold Sennelier oilpastel on the back cover of a Dunbar Sloane Fine and Applied Arts Catalogue for 9 & 10 September 2020 revealing a detail from Fiona Pardington’s Portraitof a Female Huia, double sided tape with adhered reproduction print frombetween page 42 and 43 of The Garden of the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, oilpaint, white oil pastel

31 x 30.6 cm

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6 x 4” Unichem print on Fujifilm Photo Paper set within frame, 21.8 x 16.6 x 3.5 cm. Printed at Newtown Unichem with the assistance of photo technician Jonathan. The frames were acquired in Napier.  

Ed. 1 of 1 (+1 AP)

Available: Price on request

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Gold oil enamel on archival paper, fingerprints of the artist, oil pastel, oil paint, adhesive backing Sellotape, acquired document ‘Camare da sogno’ (1984) collected from Venice 12.01.2018 repurposed and dated 14.09.2021 in graphite (bottom right), encased behind glass within hand-polished brass frame with a tangled knot of Benji Hartfield’s hair placed underneath a velvet-covered card to reverse (able to be hung and stood)

26 x 21 cm

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Timber panels found on the street while walking to Trantham’s flat in the early hours of morning after walking with Buda, hardwood block from a deconstructed pallet, copper from flashings gifted to studio by Pete, native hardwood cut out from the studio door having installed a cat-flap for Archie, copper nails, brass, black oil enamel, gold oil enamel, fingerprints of the artist, assorted stones collected from the Whanganui River at Koroniti, sand and 4 Lunella smaragda operculum cat's eyes collected from Island Bay Beach, Araldite epoxy, glass vessel containing 3 candle wicks and the resultant wax that melted down from the flame emitted from these wicks with water stored underneath the layers of wax (having been used as a flower vase), steel, backing constructed from the wood of a deconstructed ‘Deloitte gift box’ which Deloitte Wellington presented Mr Beere at Christmas time (then gifted to studio), brass screw eyes and picture hanging wire for hanging on wall (alternatively this work is self-standing), assorted screws, engraved pewter, frontal cross informed by a copper boat nail which was hammered into the brick mortar of the St Hilda’s Church southern brick wall, extracted and brought together with a bent nail from the studio’s collection of objects classified ‘effectively useless if not for art’, National Candle, signed BH ’21 in white oil enamel on right panel (filmed)

44 x 33 x 14 cm

This performance involved the transference of water from the shoreline of Mahanga Bay carried up along the hillside of Fort Balance Road and poured upon the concrete floor of Fort Balance; of which a tealight candle was then lit and placed upon, before walking down the hill again to collect water and repeating this process successively through light, dusk, and into the night.

Blue acrylic and gold oil enamel on card, within hand polished brass frame with glass pane

13.2 x 18.3 cm

The email is provided below in the form of a photograph, Screen Shot 2021-09-06 at 2.15.36 PM, 1278 × 714

Copper, copper nail

9.4 x 4.4 cm

Gifted to the artist’s father on father’s day.

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Georgian wired glass with gold and black oil enamel applied to verso within round wooden frame appropriated from an antique chair with hessian, horse hair and detritus

43 x 42 x 7 cm

Oil paints and gold oil enamel on glazed ceramic tile

32 x 28.6 x 1.2 cm

Sold: Zero Ten Gallery Debut Show, May 2024

Provenance: Island Bay, Wellington

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Zinc plated threaded rods, steel nuts, stainless steel wire, marble spherical base, plaster impregnated bandages, metal mail container salvaged from Anglican Missions on Pipitea St, National Candle wax, gold candle-carrying pigeon

40 x 40 x 121 cm

Brass ornamental stand, stainless steel ball chain suspending ornate cross, epoxy, spherical steel plate, rock from the south coast of Te Whanganui-a-Tara, glass pane from Ngaio All Saints Church, two smoked spliffs, stone found in Lawrence, Rust-Oleum Satin Clear Ultra Cover, bent copper nail, twisted copper pipe, white cotton muslin, seagull feather, red wax from Florence (Italy), Olympus XB60 micro-cassette within case containing audio recorded fragments from life and Colin McCahon’s ‘The Angel of the Annunciation’ (1947) NZ postage stamp, oil pastel, glass cloche from Browne & Co.

64 x 25 x 25 cm

Giclée print on 310 gsm Ilford Photo Rag, encased within unique gold-embossed wooden frame with glass pane held with epoxy, velvet-covered card as backing with stand, signed and dated on inside verso

22 17 x 2 cm

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Luke phoned on Saturday 26th June while I was at studio packing my bags for flying south

I agreed to have artwork sent by Saturday

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I made a snowball with my hands, the scale of which would rest between my hands; with my fingertips and palms touching

Approximately the size of a tennis ball

I placed each ball of snow (6) with my right hand on to my right foot suspended above the water, then lowered my foot into the river

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Acrylic, oil pastels, Mod Podge, page 359 of Landfall 112 (1974) which was exchanged for a $2 coin in Lawrence, sealed on to hardboard, worked on in Queenstown and realised back at studio, 19.6 x 14.5 cm, epoxied directly within found frame

25.8 x 20.8 x 2 cm

Inkjet print of the artist standing in front of Ralph Hotere’s Night Window, Careys Bay at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū taken by Paul Johns, inkjet print of the figure of Christ laid in a zipped plastic bag as found on Saul’s desk, oil pastel, waterbased pigment paint, acrylic paint, Mod Podge, card, blueprints of the artist’s Sanyo Television Model 5-TCI.5-TC1U, ink, bird feather, chalk, fragments of text, photographs and pages from within book Coincidence of Memory by Viggo Mortensen concealed, cut-out, rearranged and repurposed within and on the face of book, worked on in the south and realised at studio, gifted to Christian Dimick and Ruby Wilkinson

22 x 21 (42) x 2 cm

10.38 second video available for viewing only as an Instagram Story for 24 hours from 10.38pm 29th June 2021. Video by Olivia Hartfield made in the Bella Vista Hotel in Queenstown, of Benji Hartfield’s toe tapping Olivia’s iPhone screen 8 times laid atop of artwork EYES LOCK TURNS FOREVER INTO ON VEIL THAT FALLS which the artist has been working on for 40 days which will be sent via post to Christian and Ruby once finished, of which section is visible a photograph taken by Paul Johns in the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū of Benji facing Ralph Hotere’s Night Window, Careys Bay. Visible within the video also is a Resene testpot as well as an iPhone case surrounding the Instagram account illuminated by the light from a National Candle rested atop the artist’s bedside table which has been appropriated as a studio desk during the family’s stay down south.

Giclée print on 310gsm Ilford Photo Rag, left face-up on studio desk for two months then brushed with a fibre cloth before framing on the 22nd of June, signed and dated on verso of print with ink, glass pane, corrugated cardboard, black velvet-covered board, patinaed brass surround polished with Brasso (this process was videoed an hour before working at the Adam Art Gallery at 1pm covering for my sister Olivia)

18.4 x 13.3 x 1.4 cm

Gifted to Shane. Ngā mihi aroha my brother may God bless and protect you always.

Peri book by Penelope Todd found at the Sumner free cart (Scarborough), read in a tent pitched on Paul Johns’ garden, brought back to Island Bay studio and transformed into an artwork; Tarzan’s Grip Glue, oil based enamel (blue, black, gold), plaster, oil pastel, chalk, fragment of a $10 note, metal band, epoxy, copper, verso back page of book reversed (found text/marks in pen), airport sticker for baggage claim to WLG –  HARTFIELD/BENJI JQ 286 02JUN21, bull-clip

15.2 x 20 x 2.5cm

Provenance: Christchurch, June 2021

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Plaster (cast in antique brick mould), epoxy, saint

310 x 230 x 75 mm

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Mirror pane, interconnected brass frames with brass hinges, glass panes, velvet-covered card, corrugated cardboard, chalk, oil pastel, oil enamel, fishing hooks connected with copper wire, Renga Renga Lily leaf brought into studio by Archie, tack nail, galvanised tee fitting, melted National Candle wax and burnt wick from the candle being alight held within the T junction when the artist’s father, grandfather and Simon Mueli visited the studio on the 21st May, monarch butterfly

556 x 290 x 190 mm

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Pine timbers, plexiglass, rusted roofing iron flashings, roofing screws, nails, white exterior paint, mineral turpentine, imprints of steel wool and sanding machine

220 x 122 x 25 cm

Thank you Buda Szerelem-Tolnay for his assistance with completing this work as well as recording on the morning of Wednesday 16 June 2021

Copper vessel, concrete, shattered glass transferred from another artwork (informed by a dream), copper wire, jewelled hanging cross, copper water pipe with steel tap handle, epoxy, rusted steel pipe (found beside St Hilda’s Anglican Church), white welding cement, tobacco ash (tobacco plant gifted by Koro Pal from the nursery at Ngā Hau e Whā Maara Kai in Taumarunui, grown in studio garden, the leaves dried in studio for months and then smoked through my great-grandfathers pipe in the garden), epoxy, arc-grinded rusted steel sphere plate (welded as to attach on to the rusted steel pipe, separated by incident and then turned over so that the welding marks are upturned visible beneath), glass foundation of wine glass (separated at stem), burnt sage, epoxy, glass body, Vitruvian Man pocket watch (suspended)

177 x 17 x 15 cm

Brick plinth (salvaged from the site of the former Tip Top bread factory, Adelaide Road, Newtown), rusted metal rods (found beside St Hilda’s Church) welded and penetrated into brick as weight-bearing structure to support lead-held window panes salvaged from Ngaio All Saints Church, fallen glass shards from pane, copper wire, epoxy, brass candle holder, National Candle (which burns every day & night and when reaching a point below the surface of holder, is replaced by a new National Candle) – this process has been filmed in hours-long segments, wax from this process of continuation outpoured onto brick plinth and through channels of mortar eventually leading the substance on to the studio floor where it has begun to mound, spider, spiderweb (which has made home on the artwork by nature and the network itself is so beautiful as not to disturb – this web exists suspended within the top right section of work), LIGHT refracted and reflected in whichever space the sculpture exists within; throwing everything into its wake tungsten and in gently wavering movement.

35 x 50 x 105 cm (brick as foundation) or, 35 x 50 x 163 cm (as stool with bent leg as foundation, as exhibited in Benji Hartfield Studio currently)

Plaster mould of a glass vase, wooden plinth from salt lamp, found glass dug up from a gardening job, epoxy, plaster mould of Summer Henderwood’s teeth fixed with metal hinge and Florentine brass pins, found fragment of a smiley ring collected on walk from studio to beach, permanent marker, 36.5 x 8.5 x 7 cm

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Bobby pin, stick, screw head, epoxy, welded metal, Florentine brass pins, oiled mahogany shelf, Florentine brass screw, studio dust

15.5 x 15.5 x 15.5 cm

This artwork was born when Olivia Hartfield produced a small stick from her pocket, directly after the artist saw a bobby pin on the pavement at the same time as producing a screw head from his pocket. This happened outside Cafe Laz Turkish Kebab House on Riddiford Street after dining together.

Chalk, puncture repair adhesive and monarch butterfly laid upon printed lino imbued with breath, 80 x 180 cm

Beehive matchstick box filled with candle wax with matchsticks laid upon, signed and dated BH '21 in permanent marker

Weight: 25 grams

Dimensions: 5.5 x 4 x 1.8 cm

Created on 28th May 2021 in Paul Johns Studio

Chalk, oil paint, graphite, pastel, indents, sellotape, brass screws, monarch chrysalis (5) corrugated cardboard, glitter designer velvet, hardwood ply with hand-made frame painted black, florentine brass screws

2402 x 1202 mm

80 photographs selected from 444 taken at 1 second intervals starting at exactly 00:00 NZST 24 May 2021 for the duration of smoking my last cigarette at the intersection of where the river meets the ocean and the ocean becomes the river at Le Bons Bay under the light of the moon.

Oil based enamel on hardboard salvaged from the Gordon’s tool shed of Willow Park Drive, primed and painted beside the pool, taken back to studio and months later have two bandages affixed with four nails; the bandages were worn on the heels of my feet after I’d bought my first pair of Bata Safety Boots having been bare foot for the last 6 months.

26.3 x 24.5 cm

On display Benji Hartfield Studio, May 2021

Chalk written on the first-edition cover face of C. A. Cotton’s Geomorphology of New Zealand Part I. – Systematic (1922) gifted to the artist by Flynn William, with one photograph superimposed; a culmination of ideas and works as response to the song. Included in the photograph is the sculpture ESP Monolithic Wicket made of pine timbers, plexiglass, rusted roofing iron, roofing screws, nails, all the lyric sheets to ESP (Telepathy) painted and performed with Same Name Confusion at 121 Festival adhered to the verso by Holdfast HEAVY DUTY PARCEL TAPE, white interior/exterior paint and light sources (220 x 120 x 26cm) employed as a cricket wicket at the end of the cricket strip which is informed by white interior/exterior paint on mown grass by a Masport Briggs & Statton 725EX Series lawnmower from Benji Hartfield Studio. The cricketer is wearing a Medium Ralph Lauren Polo Cricket Sweater made in China 100% COTTON HAND KNIT from SaveMart Whanganui, along with Gray-Nicolls Excalibur 500 batting pads borrowed from 7-year-old Johnny (the cricketer’s next-door neighbour) along with Johnny’s BAIFA Best Quality red cricket bat. Other forms include a caravan and the artist’s 1999 Rover 416 Cabriolet, underneath two pohutukawas.

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24 recent artworks by Benji Hartfield installed in the church space of Ngaio All Saints Anglican Church accompanied by sound made by Christian Dimick.

As part of O – a group showing of work from the six artists who transformed the deconsecrated and disused All Saints Church in Ngaio into an art studio for 3 months.

Composed by Benji Hartfield

Helped Edited and Recited by Olivia Hartfield

Duration: 20 seconds

Media: Voicemail, Administrative, Audio, Time-Based

Recorded in the Studio Garden, 24 April 2021

This artwork can be accessed by dialing the artist's mobile phone number

Photographs by Olivia Hartfield

Cast iron, epoxy, AUCKLAND ART GALLERY TOI O TĀMAKI SHOP ERASER (once printed with the acronym ART A DISAPPEARING ACT), erased for the last five years as to disappear/appear (reveal new form/state of appearance), artist’s blood, copper, gold oil enamel, signed and dated by the artist on front and verso

28.6 x 16.8 x 6 cm

Composed around Easter Time, 2021

Sold: Zero Ten Gallery Debut Show, May 2024

Provenance: Wellington

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Erinmore Pipe Tobacco 50g Tin hand engraved, signed and dated, with Sweet Pea seed pods from Benji Hartfield's studio garden encased within tin, 10.5 x 2.8 cm

Edition 1 of 1

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Showing of 187 photographs taken up north over New Years, projected on the wall of Georgia's home on Moana Rd; Wednesday, 27 January 2021.

Wine and food courtesy of Georgia Taylor. Living room and art collection (including Nigel Brown prints and paintings photographed) courtesy of Sally and Don.

Those present at this happening included Jimmy Bellam, Georgia Taylor, Rosie McRobie, Thomas Bramley

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Found materials that were present at my feet when I looked down at the asphalt while talking with Mia on Hopper Street in January 2021, pocketed and brought back to my studio to make into a necklace. Presented to Mia in March at O - Exhibition, Ngaio All Saints Church.

Copper necklace chain, rusted washer, epoxy adhesive, metal tablet inscribed, 2 x 3.5 cm (pendant)

Copper pipe, brass picture-hanging wire, brass eye screws, driftwood from the south coast of Te Whanganui-a-Tara oil-stained Japan Black, fishing hooks, inkjet prints on cotton

1600 x 1400 mm (approx.)

Glass vessel, cement powder, National Candle placed in the centre, with two glass shards inserted around the opening of vessel, lit for the duration of a phone call to Anya in London and the time lapsed afterwards until the sculpture had become its final state; the burning candle having created a void in the cement, transforming the powder into a hardened state around the cavity.

22.5 x 8 cm (sculpture without wings), the wing shards 7 x 5 and 7 x 4 cm

Plastered self torso, plaster of paris, wooden backing, blackboard paint, marks and scratches from the transportation of artwork, copper piping, steel pipe, brass washers, Zenith roofing screws, stainless-steel cable ties, magnets, Florentine brass screws, oil pastel

130 x 70 x x 160 cm

Stone imprints on plastic, polyurethane varnish, oil paint and solvent welding cement on ceramic glazed tile

30 x 30 cm

Giclée print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth 305gsm of garden/artwork Necessary Magnolia Protection, wax outpoured from National Candles that dripped from ongoing artwork Tower of Babylon (suspended void cage), darkroom print acquired from Jasper Fierlinger appropriated, encased within gold leaf and black timber frame with museum-quality UV-resistant art glass

65.5 x 20 x 4.5 cm

Sold: Ngaio All Saints' Exhibition, 'O', 2021

Provenance: Berhampore, Wellington

Installation/Assemblage Sculpture

Plaster-impregnated bandages, Wax from National Candles, Galvanised Pipes and Fittings from Bunnings, Copper pipe X2, Nails, Tap, Mirror X2, Stainless Steel Threaded Rods, Sellotape, Crucified mannequin hand lent by Nick Burry, Fishing hooks and line with knots tied by Jimmy Bellam, iMac, Lamp, Red incandescent bulb

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This artwork was exhibited alongside a charcoal drawing from 2018, which Benji re-titled 'An expression of love/wrestled; Genesis 32:22–32' in 2020, installed beneath the air conditioning machine mounted above the side-alter of St Hilda's Anglican Church, Sunday 25th October, 2020

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$2400

Tungsten plexiglass with drilled holes secured between two aluminium poles with stainless steel cable ties; whole structure 178 x 89 x 4 cm, concreted into the ground, with Magnolia denudata planted behind.

This artwork exists in the garden of Benji Hartfield Studio.

Photographs SOLD provenance Island Bay.

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Glass panes, mirror, gold powder-coated aluminium, chain, metal joins, Eternity Quartz watch, packaging

25.2 x 16.2 x 7.2 cm

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EPHEMERAL PROJECTION OF ARTWORK LIVESTREAMED 
VIA INSTAGRAM FOR 14.07 MINUTES, 2.50PM 25/04/2020

Multi-media sculptural kinetic installation; microwave, various cigarette tobacco pouches (14 total), Sellotape, aluminium tape, brass, stainless steel screws, washers, gold-powder-coated Sanyo Solid State Cadnica 5-TC1 Portable Television with antennae protruding through microwave ceiling, roofing screws, book; Baudrillard for Beginners by Chris Horrocks, reflective Photax Chrome Glazing Plate (appropriated as a mirror), SONY SRS-55 speaker with auxiliary cord plugged into iPod playing Dean Blunt - Jill Scott Herring OST (2011).mp3 looped infinitely, studio fan, nylon, Pioneer audio/visual programmed remote control unit, nails, copper, TEAC CRT TV, two plinths retrieved from the Victoria University Faculty of Architecture & Design repaired and repainted white, white-painted studio interior wall, power cords, multi-box, extension lead

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Cotton muslin sheet wrapped around skeletal structure consisting of galvanised tie wire, ply board, Florentine brass nails, gesso, acrylic, blackboard paint, chalk, two mirrors reflecting each other, parcel written on by Trantham hanging from top mirror by nylon fishing line and magnets, negative film strips developed in studio and cut, empty film canister wrapped in framing tape, rolled cigarette, ink, graphite

248 x 56 x 50 cm

Exposed Ilford Multigrade IV Photographic Paper, mounted in polished brass frame with painted black bituminous roofing underlay paper, signed Benji Hartfield and dated with white graphite behind glass pane

16 x 11 x 5cm

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Duration: 01:00:02:02

Curated in Benji Hartfield Studio

Available for acquisition; 2-channel video transcribed onto DVD: Ed 2 + 1AP

Sculpture; brass and gold powder coat on umbrella structure used to walk down to the Island Bay beach from my studio in a southerly wind

126 x 120 x 90 cm

Acrylic paint on MDF board with pine length, signed BH bottom right and title to reverse

122 x 65 x 3 cm

ZÖ photographed for her debut EP: WAR

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"Rising Wellington-based songwriter ZÖ aka Zoe Jennings has put her best foot forward with a gorgeously recorded debut collection titled War. Released today, War delivers a three song showcase for ZÖ's powerful vocal talents, emotive lyricism, and spine-tingling arrangements, the EP's IMAX-scale production drawing listeners into the artist's melancholic world with soaring strings and room-rattling low end. You can catch her playing a live-to-air session on RNZ this Saturday kicking off at 1.10pm sharp, dive into a stream of ZÖ's War here..."

- Under the Radar, Tuesday 12th May 2019

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https://zomusic.bandcamp.com/releases

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This self portrait is a visual response to SNC's EP In Theory, which now exists in the physical manifestation of a Limited Edition 12" Record (ed. of 200) and a Limited Edition CD/DVD (ed. of 100)

https://samenameconfusion.bandcamp.com/album/in-theory

180g heavyweight black 12" vinyl in a gatefold jacket with two-sided insert.
Pressed at Holiday Records in Auckland, NZ
Side A: In Theory EP
Side B: In Theory - Live at The Factory
Words & Design by Luke Courtney
Photographs by Benji Hartfield

‍"In Theory is the debut EP by Wellington alt-pop crew Same Name Confusion. Pressed at Holiday Records in Auckland, this limited-edition vinyl release contains the original four-track EP on Side A plus a live version of the EP on Side B. The live versions were recorded at a sold-out show at The Factory (an abandoned retail space in Wellington) on June 8, 2019." - Flying Out

6 Giclée Prints on 260gsm Epson Lustre, each 110.5 x 170mm, encased within unique pōhutukawa frame, 500 x 1380mm, signed and dated by the artist on verso

Studies of light, shadow and time projected on the wall of the artist’s studio in the art department at Scots College, photographed in 2017 (2019) is Benji’s response to having been commissioned by the College to create an artwork to exist in the front reception. This work acknowledges contextual resonances and conceptual interests of the artist during his final year at Scots.

Click 'Additional information' for accompanying abstract

... "Studies of light, shadow and time projected on the wall of the artist’s studio in the art department at Scots College, photographed in 2017 (2019) is at once photographic, sculptural, collaborative, conceptual, and representative of the artist’s final year at Scots College; an accumulation of the five years Benji spent at the school which is recognised fondly by him as having inspired the trajectory of his life as an artist.

Benji Hartfield is a multidisciplinary artist currently working from his studio in Island Bay. Along with his two photographic projects: Time, Existence, Ephemerality (2017) and School (2017), other artworks realised during his time at Scots College include: An introductory exploration of postmodernism and the theoretical ideologies examined in artworks (August, September 2017), Untitled. Postmodernism Essay (November 2017), 22 Found Pencils in Cigarette Packet (2017), The Digital Age and the Concern of Self Image (2017), Immediate Self Image Through a Projected Medium (2017) and Benji Hartfield: Art Student (2017)"

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Inkjet transfer on cotton bed sheet, 195 x 263 cm

Bed sheet slept in for eleven nights and photographed each morning immediately after waking; the photographs transferred back onto sheet

School (2017) is the accumulation of over 500 images made during Benji’s time as a student at Scots College. In 2019 this series was exhibited as an online exhibition on PhotoForum, accompanied with an essay written by Max Oettli. The selected images exhibited in this first iteration of publishing were chosen to emphasise the notion of Scots as a boys’ school (especially considering it is becoming co-educational in 2020).

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This online exhibition can be accessed at the following address: https://www.photoforum-nz.org/blog/2019/6/3/benji-hartfield-featured-portfolio

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Inkjet print on watercolour paper, frame which was acquired from a framed certificate at having been a recipient for a 2017 Wild At Heart Spirit Award, english breakfast tea bag, staples, typewritten text on cartridge paper, ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣dimensions unrecorded

'Additional information' to read accompanying explanation of artwork installation and to watch video of the artist installing Benji Hartfield Art Student, 2017⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ in November 2017

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⁣Rust-Arrest anti-corrosive primer, Galvo One galvanised iron primer and low sheen water-based paint on canvas fixed to a patinaed/rusted metal structure with brass screws

102 x 72 x 17 cm

Acrylic paint on exposed photographic paper

29.6 x 21 cm

Artwork manifested after having studied the catalogue for Dunbar Sloane's The Noel & Margaret Dick Art Collection.

Withdrawn money from the bank account 38-9006-0323469-01 of Benji Hartfield (New Zealand coins, notes), plastic zip-lock bag, bank withdrawal receipt, acrylic paint, glass vase

36 x 21 x 14.5 cm

This artwork is a serious attempt of mine to raise the exact amount it will cost to cast two sculptural forms in bronze; a work of art I desire and need to realise in said material form. If you, or anyone you know may be interested in acquiring this artwork, please contact me.

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53 Days of February, March, April (2018)

Benji Hartfield

Involving a range of multi-disciplinary media, Benji presents photographic, video, sculpture, mixed media, ephemera and audio installation work. The curation of these works presented in the artist’s old room at his family's home brings about a palpable sense of closeness and intimacy for the viewer, who not only find themselves experiencing a time of Benji’s life but also existing within his space.  

(While viewing exhibition, please close this door)

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Artworks included in exhibition:

‘Selected photographs’ (2018)

47 photographic giclée prints on 310gsm Ilford Photo Rag Paper, each 6 x 4 or 4 x 6 inch

‘Sounds, recorded on my analogue Dictaphone’ (2018)

Audio monitor, earphones

Duration: 30 min, 3 sec on infinite loop\

(Please press the middle button on earphones to play / pause. Volume may also be adjusted using the + and - buttons)

‘Diaries I wrote during February, March, April’ (2018)

Three diaries, two pens, glass casing

‘VHS film recordings' (2018)

VHS film transferred to DVD, television monitor, colour

Duration: 16 min, 32 sec on infinite loop

‘Flowers I have kept’ (2018)

Two vases, flowers

‘Materialisation of Unabridged SMS Conversation; all the text messages I wrote and read (February, March, April 2018)

Digital pigment print on cotton, 242 X 142 cm

Digital pigment print on 310gsm Ilford Photo Rag Paper, 7 Panels, each 4.99 x 233 cm

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Exhibition Opening Talk for 53 Days of February, March, April (2018) was written and presented by Benji Hartfield on Tuesday 8th January 2019, starting at 6:30pm.

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Gesso and acrylic on archival paper

420 x 297 mm

24v/250w slide projector as light source, two white plinths retrieved from the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design repaired and repainted, entanglement of old clothes-line wire from the Vicarage, rope, grass, 940 x 940 mm laser-cut powder-coated aluminium panel (Firstlight architectural sample in reference to the Whetū section of the prospective west-facing façade of the church), extension lead

Curated alongside a number of other art installations to create visual accompaniments to Not So Silent Night: a Songwriter’s Nativity held at St Hilda's Anglican Church, Island Bay, Wellington

Timbacryl exterior low sheen acrylic (a deep Aotearoa green), charcoal and graphite on found board of native timber, rescued from Old St Paul’s.

83 x 29 x 3 cm

Copper tin, Peace Lily, copper wire, soil from the consecrated land of St Hilda’s Anglican Church

Dimension of length variable. The beginning of copper wire length coils around the roots of a Peace Lily and protrudes outwards into space. Copper being a conductive metal. This artwork was made immediately after the Christchurch Mosque Attacks.

Photograph by Trantham Gordon; of Benji Hartfield and his family looking at recent installations by the artist; on left Conductor of Peace (2019) and on right Materialised Wayfinder reappropriated (2019)⁣

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Oil, acrylic and sanding machine on canvas,

33 x 24 cm

Installation; closed-circuit televisions, VHS video camera, S-video cord, RCA cables, RCA splitters

This is a photograph taken in 2017, a 1/4 of a second exposure of John Stezaker’s film Crowd, exhibited at the City Gallery as part of John Stezaker: Lost World. The film is composed entirely of individual frames of crowd scenes from different movies, projected rapidly. In this sense, film stills are extracted, made independent, then re-contextualised to exist within a filmic state; that is, moving. Humans are supposed to see individual images appearing at this rate of 1/24th of a second. However, I experienced the imagery to flash before my eyes so quickly that I felt overwhelmingly disconcerted at being unable to grasp the entirety of the image. I could realise only fragments of the whole before the image moved and changed relentlessly. In other words, time and image was unceasingly progressing, resulting in my inability to comprehend the present. I photographed such, only to look at again once time had lapsed, once I was removed from the immediate experience. This is the resultant image, observed for the first time this morning. I think this particular affair is a microcosm of photography’s value and necessity in my life; able to document a moment in time when I find myself too absorbed to make sense of such, which later manifests its beauty, value, meaning, importance, artistic significance. Through this photograph I have extended the aforementioned relationship between image and film further, translating essence of the film back into a still; yet infused with its peripheral imagery.

Ephemeral sculptural object consisting of metal objects; safety pins, a paperclip, nail, screw hooks, razor blades, pins, a tweezer, rings, chain, magnetic spheres; painted gold acrylic enamel

There is a certain fragility about the work; not about the objects individually, for their materiality suggests physical stability, but the way they are connected, and drawn to each other. They are drawn together by magnetic properties, which will weaken over time. Eventually all the individual objects will no longer be connected, and will exist as separate entities. Thus the composition of this sculpture is ephemeral; a term I have usually associated with material disintegration, not with compositional arrangement.

N.B. This artwork has ceased to exist, 2021

Essay in the form of a multimedia installation;

Desk, extension cord, television, video monitor (projecting a 42-minute video on infinite loop), sound, remote, DVD, DVD case (hung on wall), inkjet printed essay on 10 A4 pages encased within wooden frame (hung on wall)

This installation was originally curated to exist in the hallway of the Visual Arts Floor at Scots College during the artist's final year at high school

Dimensions variable. The original desk used in this installation was the beautiful oak roll-top which stood outside Mr Zachariassen's office, which the artist transported to the site of installation at night after all students and teachers had left the building. The artist left a note on the senior school principal's door explaining the disappearance of his desk.

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House paint on woven hessian mat

2.5 x 3.5 m

Commissioned by Amnesty International to be exhibited outside Parliament

Metal Polish on verso Photax Chrome Glazing Plate (patinaed brass)

10" x 8"

Giclée photographic print on 260gsm Epson Lustre, BubbleWrap, encased behind glass with frame, signed and dated 'Benji Hartfield, 2019' (lower right); inscribed with title, signed and dated to reverse

688 x 435 x 28 mm

Gesso, flat ceiling paint, semi-gloss waterbased enamel paint, permanent marker and graphite on board

289 x 252 mm

Note to self in diary (circled, affirmed, crossed out, again) projected and enlarged to scale into artwork.

Sold: Zero Ten Gallery Debut Show, May 2024

Provenance: Wellington

61 photographs printed as three giclée prints on 260gsm Epson Lustre, adhered to three seperate cardboard panels, each 594 x 841 mm (1782 x 841 mm in total span)

Photographic series manifested in 2017 subsequently submitted for NZQA Photography Scholarship, for which the artist received Top Scholar in the country.

... “This Photography Outstanding Scholarship submission presents a thoughtful and rigorous enquiry underpinned by ‘two pivotal events’ that the candidate identifies as the starting point for what is a rich and lateral photographic journey – that being their introduction to the philosophy of existentialism and the concurrent passing of their Grandma. Together, these form the central contexts for the practice and position the project focus: the notion of time and how it determines (our) existence.

The overarching proposition operates on a dual platform; philosophical and personal linked to subject matter, concept and context. It all stems from a comprehensive essay that the candidate himself wrote about existentialism, along with the experience of witnessing his Grandma’s passing, further positioning the ephemeral as the means to explore time, life and death.

The visual research (through practice) is outstanding and strongly locates a sense of ownership and enquiry from the outset. Using themselves as the figure in the work in various states of ‘being’ is an important symbolic framing (postured, sleeping, transforming, holding, lifting, walking). The figure plays a performative role in unpacking the candidate’s thoughts into a series of profound sequences and mesmerising imagery." ...

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'Additional Information' to read the review written by the New Zealand Photography Scholarship Marking Panel, published in June 2018.

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Compacted beer cans (all the Heineken cans Tom Burtin collected at Weir House last year and mostly Double Brown cans I acquired from a “lads’ piss-up”), galvanised steel threaded rod, steel nuts and washers.

52 x 51cm x 21 cm

11.6kg

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Assorted metal name-holder plates taken from doors of C-Floor interconnected with copper wire, mounted with brass bolts and nuts on to copper

1600 x 800 x 1.5 mm

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