The Alchemist

I find Chris Booth in a field north of Kerikeri studying piles of boulders. To me, the grey granite stones all look the same but to Booth, who is busy measuring and contemplating, these are what fire his imagination and have seen him described by leading British art critic Edward Lucie Smith as “a poet of the natural world”. Put simply, Booth is an art alchemist, transforming the boulders, rocks, pebbles, slate, driftwood, tree trunks, branches, flax, and fungi most of us ignore into monumental sculptures.

“I love this one,” he says, tapping a huge chunk of granite. “But it’s too big. Likely weighs five ton. And my crane can only lift three.” It appears even an alchemist has to know his limitations. Then he’s off again, the hunter-gatherer in search of more materials to work with, his energy levels and fitness remarkable for a man who will soon turn 73 and has worked with heavy objects for more than 50 years.

While you may not immediately recognise Booth’s name, it is likely you have seen his sculptures. Perhaps you’ve walked past , whose twin columns of boulders joined by an arc of steel cables stand at the corner of Albert Park and Victoria Street in Auckland’s CBD. Or maybe you’ve visited the (a work which “almost bankrupted” Booth in its making). Situated on a tor at Matauri Bay overlooking at the entrance to Hamilton Gardens: a wall of 21 massive stone columns with a kakahu (cloak) created by Maori weaver Diggeress Te Kanawa out of pebbles. There are many other Booth sculptures scattered across New Zealand — all are remarkable, and none quite the same.