Susan Te Kahurangi King
Untitled (Ref: NEWA36627) December 2021
Graphite on a found wax print (which was produced on an Itek Phaser III solid ink printer, c. 1990s.)
285 x 420 mm
Courtesy of The Susan Te Kahurangi King Trust
Gathering Leaves
Contemporary Collage:
George Hajian, Susan Te Kahurangi King, Teresa HR Lane, Peter Madden, Kenneth Merrick, Tracey Tawhiao
12 September - 24 November 2024
Ground Floor Galleries
Gathering Leaves brings together six contemporary artists working in collage and drawing based practice. This exhibition explores the activity of gathering as a means of creative expression. These artists gather materials that are personal, reflecting their experiences and subjects of interest (including ecology, gender, pop culture and Te Ao Māori). We may observe small items of humour collected during daytime drudgery or memorabilia from family occasions. Their work, often assembled from media sources, can present rich details. Some of these materials are drawn out of large studio-based archives, highlighting the dedication that gathering calls for.
Kenneth Merrick collects some material that we may consider mundane - fruit stickers, Post-It notes. He shows how something that is possibly inconsequential can hold greater significance as an artwork. His works on display are pages extracted from many sketchbooks, developed over recent years in several countries. Susan Te Kahurangi King works mainly on paper, though in recent years has also shown a natural affinity when drawing on lithographic stones. Although new paper is easily accessible, Susan often opts to draw on odd pieces she's gathered or acquired, the pre-existing marks or creases often serving as a starting point. Collage is also incorporated in many of her works, whether self-adhesive stickers or paper items, often vintage, gathered over time from various sources.
Teresa HR Lane’s current collages are drawn from the experience of living on a retired sheep farm in Te Tai Tokerau. Lane's practice reflects upon the large-scale agricultural transformation of land in Aotearoa. Her whimsical responses, assembled from many sources (notably NZ Geographic and Forest & Bird), present hybrid figures (native bird/human) jostling for dominance in the landscape. Peter Madden has explored the medium of collage for over twenty-five years, developing a large body of work. His fantastical sculptures are notable, with intricate collage fragments from multiple sources often in tandem with found objects. Madden’s wall-based collages can be likened to flattened sculptures, with their multi-layering of supports.
The digital collages by Tracey Tawhiao are developed from her art images and landscape photography, overlaid with work by other artists from the past and present. She uses collage to create anachronistic and detailed images that challenge reality, and for its ability to present a sense of timelessness. George Hajian’s practice concerns the representation and performative aspects of the so-called masculine body. He collects printed material that presents the fetishised male body from a variety of sources, including adult magazines and vintage publications. Hajian is interested in the materiality of the original published sources, as they enter popular discourse and aims to retain this authenticity in his collages.
Artist biographies
George Hajian
George Hajian is a designer, artist, and an educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. He was born in Beirut (Lebanon) with Armenian ancestry and emigrated to Aotearoa in 2001. After finishing his Postgraduate Diploma in Graphic Design at Massey University (2012), he moved to Tāmaki Makaurau for his MFA (2013) and Doctorate in Fine Arts (2018) from Elam School of Fine Arts.
Hajian mainly works in collage and screen-printing. He uses found printed materials from porn and popular culture to disrupt signifiers of power and subvert their significance. His main area of research focuses on the concept of masculine embodiment and its relationship with technology, desire, and power. Hajian is also a Senior Lecturer at the School of Art and Design, Auckland University of Technology (AUT). @hajian_george —
Susan Te Kahurangi King
Susan Te Kahurangi King (b.1951), a self-taught artist from New Zealand, has been creating extraordinary drawings prolifically since her childhood in the mid-1950s.
She lost her speech around the age of five and cannot read or write. In the absence of communicating directly with others, she expresses her thoughts, feelings, observations, understandings, fears and fascinations through her intensely intriguing and incredibly masterful drawings. In the early 1990s, Susan's love and practice of drawing came to a complete stop. In 2008, much to everyone's surprise and Susan's own delight, she picked up a pen and returned to her long-lost love of drawing.
Less than a year later, she had her first solo exhibition and since then, has not looked back.
King's exhibition history is now extensive, having been shown in many galleries and museums across the globe.
Her works are positioned in both private and public collections, including; The Collection of KAWS, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York, ICA Miami, the Chartwell Collection (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki), The Arts House Trust and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Kenneth Merrick
Kenneth Merrick is a Tāmaki Makaurau based artist and designer whose creative output extends across a range of media and materials. Through image making, Merrick seeks to convey perspectives that form a basis for visual thinking, intuitive approaches and DIY methods.
In recent years, his work has filtered a myriad of influences, underpinned by explorations into cultural experience, pattern, form and speculative spaces. Since completing a Bachelor of Design and Contemporary Art (Painting) at Unitec in 2012, his work has been exhibited in a variety of exhibition settings and spaces in Aotearoa and abroad.
Teresa HR Lane
Motivated by a collective illusion of paradise, its past and our present, Teresa HR Lane delves deep into an abundant collection of current and archival images from across Aotearoa. Her works are a visual response to the ongoing physical degradation from the capitalist and colonial impact on this land.
Lane’s works are made from new and recycled material, printed matter, books and magazines. She acknowledges the photographers and artists who supply Alexander Turnbull Library, The Northwood Collection, NZ Geographic, Forest & Bird, Art & Object, IAC, Webbs, Art New Zealand, and the many exquisite books illustrating Aotearoa, which have been diced, spliced and reassembled to make these the works.
Lane received both BFA (2012) and MFA (2017) from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. She was recipient of the Akel Schulte Runner-up Award 2019, Molly Morpeth Canaday Painting and Drawing Award, finalist 2019 National Contemporary Art Award, Wallace Art Awards in 2017. Lane’s works are included in both public and private collections.
Peter Madden
Peter Madden studied at Auckland Institute of Technology, Auckland (1992-1995) with a Bachelor of Visual Arts, and a Master of Fine Arts (first class) from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University (2002-2004). He has exhibited extensively in New Zealand and internationally. His work is included in many collections, private and public, including The Arts House Trust. The 2014 survey exhibition Coming from all the places you’ve never been toured to Pataka Art +Museum, Porirua, and Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland. Peter Madden is currently included in the exhibition Generation X at Te Papa.
Tracey Tawhiao
Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Whakatōhea
Tracey Tawhiao is a prolific multi-media contemporary artist, whose expressions encompass poetry, moving image, sculpture, and painting. Tracey’s artwork focuses strongly on the potency of symbols and is well-known for her unique and dynamic approach to art, and her astute poetry. She has exhibited her art extensively across Aotearoa and internationally and her poetry is published in several anthologies. She is also the subject of several art publications and TV art documentaries. She has a law degree, an arts degree and a Master of Philosophy. She has been a full-time artist for over 25 years.
Ko Matakana te motu toku whakapapa
Ko Mauao te maunga, ko Tauranga te moana, ko Mataatua te waka, ko Ngāi Te Rangi te iwi, ko Ngāi Tuwhiwhia te hapu, ko Opureora te marae, ko Tuwhiwhia te whare tipuna, ko Te Aoreke te whare kai.