Maori Woman 1876. After a painting by Gottfried Lindauer

The image I chose to work from is one of Lindauer's edgier paintings, grittier than earlier works in which I believe, he tended towards idealising his subjects.

A quick graphite on paper study of a Maori woman from 1876 after an oil painting by Gottfried Lindauer. Is this woman the Maori equivalent of the Mona Lisa? Who was she I wonder?

The Red elephant of Khyber Pass, Auckland New Zealand, UPDATE.

In the early 1990's I was involved in the design and building of many commercially oriented public sculptures and 3D signs.

This project, a ferro cement, generic elephant, was built for the Chang Tong Thai Restaurant, now known as the Red Elephant.

UPDATE.

After 35 years, and closure of the Red Elephant Thai Restaurant, The Red Elephant was bought by Peter Harris, who has moved him to his home in Langs Beach.

Peter found me on this blog. He contacted me asking numerous questions about the construction and placement of the elephant. Despite so many years elapsing, I was able to recall every detail of the project. I was instrumental in making it possible for Peter and his team to uplift and transport Abdul [named in honour of its previous owner] to his new location on Peter's property at Langs Beach in Northland. To find out more scroll down to the NZ Herald article written by Northland Journalist, Peter de Graaf. July 1st 2024.

The Golden Elephant of Khyber Pass, Auckland, New Zealand with the company ute in the foreground. Photo taken by me in 1991.

Here are a few surviving images of the building process.

The armature beginning to reveal the shape of the elephant in 3 D.

Another perspective of the steel armature in the workshop.

Armature with most of its wire netting applied, those are my boys, Robert and Arien.

A trunk down perspective of the plastering process.

I developed a very successful plaster mixture by blending Portland cement with equal parts of sand and macerated news paper which was power mixed with a paddle and a drill. It clung to the two layers of mesh extremely well.

What the paster application looked like from inside.

A young Rachel Hunter looks on.

My son Arien as Mahout

The detail was added as a second plaster layer using a variety of metal shapes bent out of steel sheet.

Swinging the sculpture from the low loader into position outside the restaurant in Khyber Pass, Auckland NZ. It weighed 1.5 tonnes.

My daughter Rebekka loved the excitement of Dad's job.

In position, my children from left to right, Robert, Rebekka, Arien in his favourite position.

This is my son Robert with the red elephant in 2012

Auckland wildlife

Abdul the red elephant being uplifted by his new owner,
Peter Harris.

Loaded on to a car transport trailer, Abdul made his way north to
Langs Beach.

Elephant restoration begins

I've begun the process of restoring my elephant by giving her a thorough wash.

She, hold on a minute, she doesn't have a name!

What about a face book "name the elephant" suggestions box?

Now that she's had a pressure wash to remove 21 years of grime it's time to repair a few areas of damage.

A large crack had developed over time which created a deep fissure from her left shoulder across to her right temporal lobe. I began by injecting some "space invader" foam from an aerosol can. This polyurethane foam fills and adheres as it cures. The foam expands many times its initial volume to overflowing the application area. Once cured it looks like fresh bread, it cuts extremely well with a fish knife. This done all that remains to be done is to fill in the cut away side of the body which I will do with more urethane foam.

You can just make out my repair above her right eye.

A rear view of her legs. I built this base to support her upper torso to allow zoo staff an easier time moving her from place to place.

I'm enjoying working around her again, she has quite a presence in our confined driveway space.

In this image you can clearly see the aluminium support armature in the form of an X. This welded, box section structure runs down each leg to the tang that protrudes from the base of each foot.

Here's another good view of the repaired crack on her head.

Torso and body are ready to be reunited, I have to wait for the lifting crane next week.

She seems to be enjoying the attention!

Elephant Fever, the only cure ? Another dose!

January 23rd 2013 Julie and I collected the elephant I built for the Auckland Zoo 21 years ago, in 1992.

We were met by helpful Zoo staff who assisted with lifting the elephant sculpture, which is in 2 pieces, on to our roof rack and trailer ready for our 300 km homeward journey.

Outside the northern gates of the Auckland Zoo.

Julie and our precious load.

Harmen and his elephant

I'm relievd that the young man who made this thought about future moves during design and construction.

This is definitely her better side. The other is cut away to reveal the internal anatomy of an elephant. I plan to cover that area up and integrate her back into a fully formed pachyderm.

This is how she originally appeared when finished. That's me at age 34 on the left.