Jonathan Campbell’s new exhibition Three Phase Bronzerrotypes presents twelve intricate bronze works that merge anatomical precision with electrical mechanics, exploring themes of personality, origin, and the transmission of legacy.
In this body of work, Campbell casts bird skulls including Takahe, Albatross, Huia, Haast Eagle, and Tui, and integrates them with bronze switchboards, conduits, wires and transformers. Delicate leaves emerge from coiling cables, forming an uneasy harmony between flora and industry, extinction and energy. The results are haunting and reverent, technological relics imbued with biological memory.
The term Bronzerrotype refers to Campbell’s sculptural response to the daguerreotype, an early photographic process. As with daguerreotypes, these works suggest a fixed moment in time, a preserved likeness, a charged identity. The Three Phase title hints at layered symbolism, reflecting personality, scale, and legacy, a tribute to subjects that command presence either through physical form or cultural weight.
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Jonathan Campbell lives and works in Lower Hutt, Wellington. He completed a Diploma of Fine Arts at Whitireia New Zealand in 1989, and in 1992 established his own studio and foundry, Lost Wax Wellington, in a former army magazine in the western hills of Lower Hutt. Initially focused on casting his own work, the foundry soon became a vital resource for New Zealand’s sculptural community, casting works for many of the country’s leading artists and institutions.
Campbell is known for his narrative-driven bronze sculptures, which explore memory, identity, and public space through rich material storytelling. His work has featured in numerous exhibitions over the past thirty years, including the Physical Graffiti series shown previously at Kingsroy Gallery. He has been a six-time finalist in the Wallace Art Awards, a finalist in multiple national sculpture awards, and received a Highly Commended recognition in the Richard T Nelson Sculpture Awards in 2021. Recent accolades include being a finalist in the 2025 Waikato Small Sculpture Award for his work Bronzerrotype. Night Shift, and winning the 3D category at the 2023 Taranaki National Art Awards.
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