Art History week 5 Homework

 Peter Robinson

Peter Robinson is an important figure in the wave of second generation Māori artists that emerged in the late eighties from the School of Fine Arts (Ilam) at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Robinson was born in Ashburton, Canterbury in 1966, and currently lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand (Auctions.webbs.co.nz, 2019) . Well known in New Zealand for dealing with issues such as race relations in a provocative and controversial manner, Peter Robinson's practice has been characterised by elements of shock and surprise. He has continually shifted tack throughout his career in his use of materials and techniques and the content he addresses.

His work seems to exist in a constant state of flux and change and his subject matter also appears to swing between an articulation of intellectual ideas and pop culture but certain forms and ideas run through his practice. Originally trained as a sculptor, he has also worked in painting, drawing, installation and digital media. 

Peter Robinson: Painting 1999 oil and acrylic on unstretched linen canvas 2140mm x 4870mm 

This important work, Painting 1999 comes right at the tail end of that first phase. It visually dominates in a minimal palette of red, black and white that evokes traditional Māori kowhaiwhai and pre-Second World War political branding, and takes a deliberately naïf form, part constructivist propaganda, part patchwork quilt, and an allusion to the agricultural landscape of the mid-Canterbury of the artist’s childhood, his tūrangawaewae (place to stand) (Auctions.webbs.co.nz, 2019).

There is a Jimmie Durham-esque self- conscious and ambivalent irony there, a playful approach to the vagaries of authenticity and identity that marks a generation of young Māori artists, along with Shane Cotton and Michael Parekowhai, who emerged at the beginning of the 1990s into postmodern art practice.

The painting seethes with pop culture, art history and the half-digested fragments of the national Id frozen in time. “For Sale” signs suggest a selling out of values, the selling off of Māori land, the roadside sign-like qualities of the late work of Colin McCahon, and the percentages hint – half seriously, half tongue- in-cheek – at the politics of indigenous blood percentages and legitimacy under the Treaty of Waitangi (Auctions.webbs.co.nz, 2019).

The shapes that resemble incomplete and neutered swastikas are likewise many-layered, mixing Gordon Walters’ koru with that most infamous symbol of white nationalist genocidal racism, to form a stylised aeroplane (Auctions.webbs.co.nz, 2019) (the Pākehā waka). It is surprisingly aggressive compared with much of his later work, but leavened with a laid back, non-threatening sense of humour about it all comparable to the self-aware and carefully coded comedic strategies of the late Billy T. James.

Who is Emire Karaka

Emily Karaka (born Auckland in 1952) is a New Zealand artist of Māori (Ngāti Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngati Hine, Ngāpuhi) descent Her work is recognised for "its expressive intensity, her use of high key colour (Collections.tepapa.govt.nz, 2019), and her gritty address of political issues related to Māori land rights and the Treaty of Waitangi. Karaka is seen as part of the first generation of contemporary Māori artists and she is often placed alongside painters Robyn Kahukiwa and Kura Te Waru Rewiri in discussions of New Zealand art history.

 Emire Karaka:  The Treaties  (1985)

Around the creation of the work their was a land struggle which her family and herself were very much involved in, participating in the land marches, and during this time their was also the springbok tour occurring which woke the country up to some serious issues surrounding race.  Emily Karaka states that the painting was also inspired by a dream she had where she was being chased and just as she was about to be caught she saw a rock and ran into it penetrating and merging with the rock (SoundCloud, 2019), when she depicted this rock  Colin McMahon suggested that they weren't rocks but crosses in terms of shape and form. As stated before their were many things going during the time that heavily affected the Maori and with Emire Karakas family being personally affected by the land wars and being a decedent of one of the Maori chiefs who signed the treaty (SoundCloud, 2019). Her paintings detail the struggle and sacrifice of Maori.
Three panels each feature a crucified figure and one of the three deeds: the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi (New Zealand’s founding agreement between the Crown and Māori); the 1952 Anzus defence pact between Australia, New Zealand, and the US; and the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement opposing sporting contacts with apartheid-era South Africa. These three documents – ‘meant to protect’, as Emily Karaka has said – are torn, bloodied, destroyed. A ‘nuclear mother’ confronts us on the far left. (Collections.tepapa.govt.nz, 2019)

Echoed on each panel is the famous 1864 battle cry of Maniapoto leader Rewi Maniapoto, declared during the New Zealand Wars: ‘Ka whawhai tonu matou, ake, ake ake’ – We will fight against you for ever (Collections.tepapa.govt.nz, 2019).

References

Collections.tepapa.govt.nz. (2019). Loading... | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. [online] Available at: https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/39931 [Accessed 11 Mar. 2019].

SoundCloud. (2019). Artist Emily Karaka on her work ‘The Treaties’. [online] Available at: https://soundcloud.com/te_papa/artist-emily-karaka-on-her-work-the-treaties/s-PvcYH [Accessed 11 Mar. 2019].

Auctions.webbs.co.nz. (2019). PETER ROBINSON Painting 1999 - Price Estimate: $220000 - $280000. [online] Available at: https://auctions.webbs.co.nz/m/lot-details/index/catalog/106/lot/18987/PETER-ROBINSON-Painting-1999?url=%2Fm%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F106 [Accessed 11 Mar. 2019].