Up bobs the art
Herald Sun, Monday 9 December 2002
by Alison Barclay
A developer's love of art is suddenly given free rein, writes
ALISON BARCLAY
For one exhilarating year only, the artist hidden behind the cool eye and hard nose of Michael Buxton was let loose.
"I took a year off and went to art school in 1991 ter study art and design," he says, "but unfortunately then had to go back to work."
"Work" was the business of Becton Corporation, the property development company Buxton founded with Max Beck. Now as executive director of another real estate tiger, MAB, he is getting even with the forces that quashed his artistic flourishing.
Buxton is merrily spending $10 million on works of art for NewQuay, MAB's striking $1.3 billion waterfront towers at Docklands.
Big spender: Michael Buxton with some of his Silence sculptures at NewQuay. Picture: PAUL TREZISE
He hopes to make NewQuay the host for an international sculpture eveny, possibly a triennial, in tandem with the City of Melbourne.
"We're now working on getting Docklands included in an arts program and at that stage we will allow people to come down and see what artists have done here," Buxton says, sipping coffee amid the chrome and grassy tufts of his near completed masterwork. "When it's finished, we will be able to do a book on it, which is a nice idea."
Obliged by the Docklands Authority to set aside 1 per cent of NewQuay's budget for art in the forecourts and foyers, Buxton, a notably canny private collector, was delighted to go shopping.
"What happens in a lot of developments is (hat you get to the finish and nobody wants to spend any more money," he says.
"We had an obligation to spend me money, so we decided to look at really good, quality things."
The most lavish is Silence, a $500,000 commission from Gippsland sculptor Adrian Mauriks -- 13 creamy, curvaceous fibreglass forms that wriggle up from the old dock decking outside the central tower.
This tower, named Arkley in honour of artist Howard Arldey, contains colourful portraits of the man by his widow, Alison Burton. Pacing me street is a shimmering embossed screen, a homage to Arkley by graphic designer Matthew McCarthy.
There are sculptures by Michala Dwyer, Greg Johns and Jenny Watson, retina-scorchers in orange acrylic by John Nixon and a silvery abstraction by Dale Franks nick named Jack the Dripper.
Perched on the edge of the dock is a cool grey "folly" by RMIT architecture student Alexander Knox. This, an ice-cream parlour by day, will light up at night, throwing square-shaped beams across the water.
In choosing the NewQuay trove, Buxton was influenced by his own art collection, which is guided by Melbourne experts such as Max Delany, director of 200 Gertrude St.
Buxton likes to catch artists on the rise. In an exhibition at Heide last summer, he revealed his 1990s gatherings - works by Callum Morton, Tracey Moffatt, Bill Henson and that most collectable artist, Ricky Swallow.
Buxton's curators are now pondering the latest crop of creators. "Michala Dwyer is someone who we should put on the list," Buxton muses.
Meanwhile there is another tower to be built, the Nolan, and treasures to be found for it.
"It's nice to go to someone who hasn't done anything," Buxton says. "We don't want to go to the fried arid true major artists, even though they are great."
NewQuay is now open to te public.
