Joe Sheehan

Joe Sheehan

Manlo Mana

2005

NZ Greenstone, lightbulb, brass fitting, electric cord

Celebrating the magic of objects such as light bulbs, bic pens and cassette tapes as well as the actual beauty of greenstone, Sheehan's Auckland exhibition at Objectspace in 2005 was quite literally called Limelight. It took a contemporary look at the relevance and position of greenstone carving in today's world. Sheehan asks some hard questions. He asks why much contemporary greenstone carving looks like works held in museums and not like objects of this time. How can multiple cultural approaches to the use of greenstone co-exist and be respected? Seeking fresh responses to the making process, Sheehan plays with social and cultural contexts with his work, presenting greenstone objects that speak first about their object status and second about their materials. "I made a range of things pulled out of my daily life and froze them in time," he writes. "…This is more about the extraordinary manner in which these objects have been produced rather than the stone. "