Tuesday, 7 December 2010, 1:25 pm
Press Release: Ellerslie

Ellerslie announces Resene's Fastest Art Exhibition

Full size white fibreglass horses have been appearing in the backyards of Marc Ellis, Lucy Lawless and Karen Walker amongst others.

They have been accompanied by a collection of Resene paints and a sign saying "Paint Me".

And so these horses are under starter's orders as Ellerslie is set to announce the start of Resene's Fastest Art Exhibition.

An eclectic group of artists, designers, musicians, sports stars and creative individuals will transform these horses into exquisite works of art.

This Wednesday 8th December, at the first of Ellerslie's Barfoot & Thompson Twilight Summer Series events, Auckland Racing Club CEO Chris Weaver will announce the artists involved in the campaign.

These include; Billy Apple, Ra Vincent (sculptor on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong movies), Kids of 88, Op Shop, Lucy Lawless, Mark Ellis, the Auckland Blues, New Zealand Warriors and Karen Walker.

For two weeks in February and March 2011, Auckland will then play host to these 18 artworks as they are let loose to race round the city, before returning to their new home at Ellerslie to prepare for Auckland Cup Week.

At the completion of Auckland Cup Week the painted horses will be auctioned off with the proceeds from each horse going to the charity of its artist’s choice.

The 18 horses represent the number of starters in the Southern Hemisphere’s richest Derby race, $2.2 million Telecom New Zealand Derby, which kicks off Auckland Cup Week 2011 at Ellerslie on Saturday 5th March.

Where are they going to appear...who knows, we can’t ask them, they’re horses.

Source