Matakite is a title Māori give to a visionary; one with second sight who perceives life in translucent overlapping layers of time and space, both physical and metaphysical.
John Walsh‘s paintings of monumental primordial landscapes populated by mysterious human-like creatures are beyond the realm of what most of us can imagine.
These are the revelations of a Matakite; prophetic visions of a place between the physical world and the after-life that Walsh reveals to us by trailing his brush through paint.
The exhibition Matakite will bring together the most outstanding large scale landscape paintings Walsh has produced over the last two decades, including Act 1, Scene 1, 2012 – a mystical panorama measuring 2 by over 5 metres.
This painting features a flotilla of Marakihou; fantastical guardians that are part human, part fish, part waka, ferrying ephemeral human cargo from a precarious hill top sanctuary across rugged Fiordland cliff faces.
John Walsh Matakite exhibition catalogue is proudly sponsored by The Post Family Trust via the Pātaka Foundation.
