The Life & Work of Matt Pine
A memorial is a means to make an absence present. Earlier this year Matt Pine oversaw the reinstatement of his memorial sculpture Cone Piece (1985/2021) to its rightful place in the Whanganui War Memorial Centre. It was taken down 18 years ago for cleaning, and it remains a mystery as to why it was not reinstalled afterwards. Cone Piece has the qualities of Pine’s best work—an openness, restraint, and clarity of intent.
The form, structure and position of Cone Piece is conditioned by the architecture itself. It is a six-piece sculpture that symbolically channels light from the circular light-wells above the Centre’s central staircase down onto the Book of Remembrance below. The Whanganui War Memorial Centre opened on Anzac Day 1960, in honour of soldiers killed in action in World War II. Designed by Gordon Smith1 in 1956, it is highly regarded as one of the best examples of modernist architecture in New Zealand. The conical shapes that make up Cone Piece offer a lightweight mass that is bold yet not overbearing. Together they amplify an appreciation of the building’s architectural detail and memorial purpose.
A private ceremony was held on 23 April 2021 to celebrate the reinstatement of . Pine spoke eloquently about the acute personal
