I ara rā
2019
Kelcy Taratoa
acrylic on canvas
1190 x 840 x 36mm
Kelcy Taratoa
acrylic on canvas
1190 x 840 x 36mm
I ara rā
2019
2019
Kelcy TaratoaKelcy Taratoa (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Raukawa) has long been interested in the liminal spaces between things, the grey space that is neither one thing or another. This ambiguity has been a defining characteristic of his practice exploring the complexity of identity formation in the 21stcentury. That exploration traverses Māori iconography drawn from his home mare, urban alienation, comic book culture and political issues around the role of the state and surveillance.
Ambiguity plays out conceptually and materially. In earlier work, figuration and abstraction interact with figurative form dissolving into abstract pattern and blocks of colour at close viewing. In more recent work, we see an exploration of how form, colour and pattern embody ideas and speak to and across cultures, creating broad-ranging conversations ranging from Te Ao Māori to Te Ao Whānui. A signature style unifies his various bodies of work. This is characterised by vibrantly-coloured, super-flat immaculate surfaces meticulously hand painted on canvas teasing the digital with the absence of any visual brush marks. What we see also across all his work is a timelessness. Some of the earlier paintings, for example, Disappearing Reimagined made in 2012, speak almost presciently to a then unimagined global pandemic and the role of female (non-white male) leadership in creating new ways of operating in the world. Kelcy Taratoa completed a Masters in Māori Visual Arts at Massey University in 2005 and quickly attracted attention with solo exhibitions in 2005 at Te Manawa Public Art Gallery, and in 2006 at City Galley Wellington. He has exhibited steadily since then throughout New Zealand and in the United States. Recent highlights include Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, at Auckland Art Gallery; two major commissions at Christchurch Art Gallery in association with Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania; Who am I? Episodes – a mid-career survey at Tauranga Art Gallery in 2019-20. In 2021, a bilingual English and Te Reo book was published on his practice – Kelcy Taratoa: Who am I? Episode 001 written by Dr Warren Feeney. |
I ara rā
2019 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1190 x 840 x 36mm I ara rā 2019 Kia Aupikinga te Poukapa
2019 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1190 x 840 x 36mm Kia Aupikinga te Poukapa 2019 Stop making Sense
2019 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1190 x 840 x 36mm Stop making Sense 2019 Te Tihi o Manono
2020 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on linen 1000 x 1000mm Te Tihi o Manono 2020 Get with the Pink
2020 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on linen 1190 x 840mm Get with the Pink 2020 Silence
2020 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on linen 1800 x 1800mm Silence 2020 I have spoken
2020 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on linen 450 x 450mm I have spoken 2020 Te Rangi Tūhāhā
2020 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on linen 450 x 450mm Te Rangi Tūhāhā 2020 Ao-a-kura
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1000 x 1000 x 65mm Ao-a-kura 2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1000 x 1000 x 65mm The Grey Matter
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1840 x 1350 x 35mm The Grey Matter 2021 Matangi-reia
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 450 x 450 x 65mm Matangi-reia 2021 Rangi-atea
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 450 x 450 x 65mm Rangi-atea 2021 Tawhiri-rangi
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 450 x 450 x 65mm Tawhiri-rangi 2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 450 x 450 x 65mm Te Toi-o-ngā-rangi
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1000 x 1000 x 65mm Te Toi-o-ngā-rangi 2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 1000 x 1000 x 65mm Whakamoe-ariki
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 450 x 450 x 65mm Whakamoe-ariki 2021 Whare-kura
2021 Kelcy Taratoa acrylic on canvas 450 x 450 x 65mm Whare-kura 2021 Without Conscience
2013 acrylic on linen 450 x 450 x 70mm Without Conscience 2013 Vivid Vibration
2009 acrylic on linen 1000 x 1000 x 70mm Vivid Vibration 2009 Downloaded
2007 acrylic on linen 3050 x 2130 x 70mm Downloaded 2007 acrylic on linen 3050 x 2130 x 70mm Garvis... Are you there?
2009 acrylic on linen 1000 x 1000 x 70mm Garvis... Are you there? 2009 acrylic on linen 1000 x 1000 x 70mm |