Ngataiharuru Taepa
Wellington, New Zealand 1976, lives in Palmerston North New Zealand
Te Kura Tētē, 2022
acrylic on wood
Within Māori culture, customary kōwhaiwhai painting was a visual language depicting coded and abstract froms that reference the natural world. Represented in patterns that convey tribal narratives, cultural truths, and enduring practices that reflect a Māori worldview, this visual language pre-dates the written word introduced with the arrival of European settlements and colonisation. The impact of the written word, and how it is assigned value and knowledge within Western culture, has had a detrimental impact on the visual language of Māori art and on kōwhaiwhai art. Taepa’s Te Kura Tētē plays with the elements of colour, tonne, and positive and negative space to reinvigorate conversations about the importance of kōwhaiwhai as a unique Māori visual language.
acrylic on wood
Within Māori culture, customary kōwhaiwhai painting was a visual language depicting coded and abstract froms that reference the natural world. Represented in patterns that convey tribal narratives, cultural truths, and enduring practices that reflect a Māori worldview, this visual language pre-dates the written word introduced with the arrival of European settlements and colonisation. The impact of the written word, and how it is assigned value and knowledge within Western culture, has had a detrimental impact on the visual language of Māori art and on kōwhaiwhai art. Taepa’s Te Kura Tētē plays with the elements of colour, tonne, and positive and negative space to reinvigorate conversations about the importance of kōwhaiwhai as a unique Māori visual language.
Te Kura Awhitia te Nuku, 2022
earth oxides and acylic on wood
Ngataiharuru Taepa is of a generation informed and innfluenced by artists such as Sandy Adsett. In Taepa’s art practice, he has added installation and sculptural considerations with his computer-generated kōwhaiwhai designs, often emphasising pitau [young fern bulbs], and kape [young bulb form in reverse] design elements. In Te Kura Awhitia te Nuku, Taepa incorporates CNC router technnology to shape his kōwhaiwhai works in wood and activated by colour using both acrylic and natural pigments. When seen alongside Adsett’s work and the earlier kōwhaiwhai heke piece (ca. 1915), we can see kōwhaiwhai in a context where conversations about customary and contemporary, or the “old” over the “new” fall away to show the conntinuity of the art form.
earth oxides and acylic on wood
Ngataiharuru Taepa is of a generation informed and innfluenced by artists such as Sandy Adsett. In Taepa’s art practice, he has added installation and sculptural considerations with his computer-generated kōwhaiwhai designs, often emphasising pitau [young fern bulbs], and kape [young bulb form in reverse] design elements. In Te Kura Awhitia te Nuku, Taepa incorporates CNC router technnology to shape his kōwhaiwhai works in wood and activated by colour using both acrylic and natural pigments. When seen alongside Adsett’s work and the earlier kōwhaiwhai heke piece (ca. 1915), we can see kōwhaiwhai in a context where conversations about customary and contemporary, or the “old” over the “new” fall away to show the conntinuity of the art form.
Te Kura Tātai, 2022
acrylic on wood
Taepa’s suite of kōwhaiwhai series here explores the concepts and names found in ancestral Māori karakia or chants. THey express ideas of prosperity, health, and well-being. Visually, these works float on the wall like ambient messages of hope. Coloured in earth tones that contrast soft blues and minnt greens, they invite conversations about the role of visual language, signs, and symbols in a world overly obsessed with text and the power of the written word.
acrylic on wood
Taepa’s suite of kōwhaiwhai series here explores the concepts and names found in ancestral Māori karakia or chants. THey express ideas of prosperity, health, and well-being. Visually, these works float on the wall like ambient messages of hope. Coloured in earth tones that contrast soft blues and minnt greens, they invite conversations about the role of visual language, signs, and symbols in a world overly obsessed with text and the power of the written word.
Copyright © Tara Luty 2024