Exhibition
Te Tini a Pitau: 12 years of kowhaiwhai
Ngataiharuru Taepa
14 June - 6 September 2015
Ngatai Taepa Tinakori 2006. Photo by Norm Heke.
Te Tini A Pitau: 12 years of kowhaiwhai surveys highlights from the past 12 years of Ngataiharuru Taepa’s practice.
Since he was a teenager working on restoring kowhaiwhai panels, Taepa has been committed to preserving and giving new life to traditional practices through his artwork.
For over twelve years he has focussed almost exclusively on kowhaiwhai patterns in his work.
Taepa uses western techniques to interpret customary forms. He takes the intricate, interlacing patterns characteristic of customary kowhaiwhai designs and gives them a fresh contemporary interpretation introducing unexpected materials, techniques and colour combinations.
Taepa experiments with twenty-first century technologies – computer-generated imagery, digital routers, acrylic laminates, stencils on PVC pipes and steel, and digitally carved treated plywood to create his meticulously crafted work.
Images above: Photography by Alex Efimoff
Supported by the College of Creative Arts,
Massey University
