Michael Parekowhai
Michael Lett 312 Karangahape Road Cnr K Rd & East St PO Box 68287 Newton Auckland 1145 New Zealand P+ 64 9 309 7848 [email protected] www.michaellett.com Michael Parekowhai Stand By Me Installation view Michael Lett, December 2018 Michael Parekowhai Mimi (fountain) 2018 bronze, water recirculating system 300 x 380 x 520mm edition of 5 Installation view Michael Lett, December 2018 Michael Parekowhai Détour Installation view Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2018 Michael Parekowhai Détour Installation view Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2018 Michael Parekowhai Détour Installation view Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2018 Michael Parekowhai Détour Installation view Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2018 Michael Parekowhai This is New Zealand Installation view City Gallery Wellington, 2018 Michael Parekowhai The Lighthouse 2017 wood, steel, stainless steel, ceramic, copper, resin, aluminium, glass, paint and electrical components Installation view Queens Wharf, Auckland, 2017 Auckland Council Public Art Collection Michael Parekowhai The Lighthouse 2017 wood, steel, stainless steel, ceramic, copper, resin, aluminium, glass, paint and electrical components Installation view Queens Wharf, Auckland, 2017 Auckland Council Public Art Collection Michael Parekowhai The Lighthouse 2017 wood, steel, stainless steel, ceramic, copper, resin, aluminium, glass, paint and electrical components Installation view Queens Wharf, Auckland, 2017 Auckland Council Public Art Collection Michael Parekowhai The English Channel 2015 stainless steel 2570 x 1660 x 1580mm Installation view Art Gallery of NSW, 2016 Michael Parekowhai Rules of the Game Installation view Michael Lett, Auckland, November 2015 Michael Parekowhai Over the Rainbow 2015 fbreglass, automotive paint 420 x 170 x 105mm each Michael Parekowhai Rules of the Game Installation view Michael Lett, Auckland, November 2015 Michael Parekowhai On Looking into Chapman’s Homer 2011 bronze, stainless steel two pieces: 2510 x 2710 x 1750mm, 560 x 870 x 370mm Michael Parekowhai On Looking into Chapman’s Homer 2011 bronze, stainless steel two pieces: 2510 x 2710 x 1750mm, 560 x 870 x 370mm Installation view 54th Venice Biennale, 2011 Michael Parekowhai Kapa Haka (Offcer Taumaha) 2011 bronze 1820 x 600 x 450mm Installation view 54th Venice Biennale, 2011 Michael Parekowhai He Kōrero Purākau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: Story of a New Zealand River 2011 wood, brass, automotive paint, mother of pearl, paua, upholstery two pieces: 1030 x 2750 x 1750mm, 855 x 460 x 410mm Installation view 54th Venice Biennale, 2011 Michael Parekowhai Song of the Frog 2006 fbreglass, automotive paint Installation view Beaufort, Belgium, 2006 Michael Parekowhai The Big OE 2006 logs: polyurethane and two-pot paint; VW Kombi van, 1962, and Westphalia trailer, 1965: steel, automotive paint, rubber, glass, vinyl, and engine parts dimensions variable Installation view Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2006 Commissioned by Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Michael Parekowhai AWARDS Born 1968 in Porirua, New Zealand (Ngati Whakarongo) 2001 Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award Michael Parekowhai’s narratives can be complex; he draws on an abundant range of both vernacular and collective vocabularies which he re-manufactures into the SELECTED EXHIBITIONS narrative structures and formal languages of his work. Although key themes of his practice could be described as deliberate takes on notions of introduced species 2018 and culture, any potentially overt political dimensions, however, are downplayed. Stand By Me, Michael Lett, Auckland (solo) Ideas of camaraderie, tools of teaching and childhood learning, as well as quotes Détour, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington (solo) from the canon of modern art history and popular culture openly play out in This is New Zealand, City Gallery Wellington (group) many of Parekowhai’s stories. While his work is often described as emphasising the extraordinariness of the ordinary, each body of work has layers of potential 2017 for meaning and signifcance – they are open to any depth of interpretation and The English Channel, Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (solo) storytelling. 2016 Michael Parekowhai is one of New Zealand’s most important contemporary Light Switch and Conduit, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (group) practitioners. In addition to an extensive exhibition history, his work is held in all Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia (group) signifcant public and private collections throughout New Zealand and Australia, as well as major works in permanent collections across the Asia-Pacifc region and 2015 Europe. Michael Parekowhai has been included in many important exhibitions, Rules of the Game, Michael Lett, Auckland (solo) including the Asia Pacifc Triennial (2006-2007), the Gwangju Biennale (2004); The Promised Land, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Sydney Biennale (2002), Headlands, MCA, Sydney (1992); and the major art fairs in Brisbane, Australia (solo) Basel, Art Basel (2006, 2007) and LISTE (2007). In 2011 Parekowhai represented Implicated and Immune, Michael Lett, Auckand (group) New Zealand at the 54th Venice Biennale. A major survey of his work is to be hosted by Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in 2015. Parekowhai’s work has been 2014 reviewed in most major international art periodicals, and covered by every major art Menagerie, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne (group) periodical in Australasia. Black Rainbow: Michael Prekowhai and Ralph Hotere, Te Uru, Auckland (two person) Michael Parekowhai was born in Porirua, New Zealand in 1968, of Maori (Ngati Whakarongo) and Pakeha descent. Parekowhai graduated with a BFA (1990) and 2013 MFA (2000) from the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts, and in The Past in the Present, Michael Lett at the Auckland Art Fair, Auckland (solo) 2001 became an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate. Michael Parekowhai Michael Parekowhai et al., Michael Lett, Auckland (two person) currently holds the position of Associate Professor in Fine Arts at the University of Black Rainbow: Michael Prekowhai and Ralph Hotere, Museum of New Zealand Te Auckland. His exhibition history spans almost two decades of practice. Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand (two person) EDUCATION 2012 Letter from Alice May Williams, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (group) 2000 Peripheral Relations: Marcel Duchamp and New Zealand Art 1960-2011, Adam Art Master of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand Gallery Te Pataka Toi, Wellington, New Zealand (group) 1991 On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Teaching Diploma, Auckland College of Education, Auckland, New Zealand Waiwhetu, Christchurch. Also at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (solo) 1990 Sculpture is Everything, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane, Australia (group) Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand 2011 Melbourne Art Fair, Special Projects, Melbourne, Australia (group) The Far Side, Michael Lett, Auckland (solo) Melbourne Art Fair, Michael Lett Stand, Melbourne, Australia (group) Toi Aotearoa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland (group) Phoenix, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Te Ao Hurihuri, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch (solo) Picturing Eden, George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, 54th Venice Biennale 2011, New Zealand and Film, New York, USA (group) Pavilion; Also at Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France (solo) Random Access, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, Australia (group) 2009 High Tide: currents in contemporary New Zealand & Australian Art, Zacheta The Moment of Cubism, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (group) Seldom is Herd, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo) High Tide: currents in contemporary New Zealand & Australian Art, Contemporary Jim McMurtry, Planet Festival, Onatrio, Canada (group) Art Centre, 2006, Vilnius, Lithuania (group) Jim McMurtry, The New Dowse, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (group) Yes We Are, One Day Sculpture, Wellington, New Zealand (solo) 2005 Driving Mr. Albert, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) 2008 Rainbow Servant Dreaming, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo) Jim McMurtry, Maori Hall / Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) Letters to the Ancestors, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Dateline, City Gallery Kiel, Germany (group) Zealand (group) Dateline, City Gallery Sindelfngen, Germany (group) NADA Art Fair, Michael Lett Stand, Miami, USA (group) Commodity & Delight: Views of Home, Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui, New Zealand 2007 (group) The Song of the Frog, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) The Koru Club, Pataka, Poriua, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Love Chief, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Small Town, Big World; Contemporary Art from Te Papa, City Gallery, Wellington, Dateline, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany (group) New Zealand (group) Hei konei mai: We’ll meet again, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Te Hei Tiki, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Zealand (group) Gallery Artists, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia (group) My Sister, My Self, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) High Chair, St. Pauls Street Gallery, AUT, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Liste Art Fair, Michael Lett Stand, Basel, Switzerland (solo) Remember New Zealand, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Cosmo McMurtry, NGV International, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Te Moananui a Kiwa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand Australia (solo) (group) Reboot, The Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand (group) 2004 Jim McMurtry, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Chirstchurch, New The Consolation of Philosophy: piko nei te matenga , Govett-Brewster Gallery, Zealand (solo) New Plymouth, New Zealand (solo) Picturing Eden, Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, California, USA Selected Works 1989 – 1994, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) (group) Remember New Zealand, Sao Paulo Biennale, San Paulo, Brazil (group) Picturing Eden, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa, USA (group) A Grain of Dust A Drop of Water, Gwangju Biennale, Korea (group) Melbourne Art Fair, Michael Lett Stand, Melbourne, Australia (group) 2006 Earthly Delights, George Perry Gallery, Tauranga, New Zealand (group) Eerst me fets (First My Bike), Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo) Art Showcase, Grace Joel, Auckland, New Zealand (group) The Big O.E., Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New The Suter, Nelson, New Zealand (group) Zealand (solo) IKI and thanks for all the IKA, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, State of Art, George Perry Gallery, Tauranga, New Zealand (group) Wellington, New Zealand (group) In Flower, Pataka, Poriua, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Reboot, The Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Animals in Art, North Art, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Dunedin, New Zealand (group) 35K, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Asia Pacifc Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (group) Urban Legends, Bartley Nees Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Beaufort Inside, PMMK, Museum of Modern Art, Ostend, Belgium (group) Paradise Now?, Asia Pacifc Society, New York, USA (group) Beaufort Triennial 2006, Belgium Coast Line, Ostend, Belgium (group) Hei konei mai: We’ll meet again, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New 2003 Zealand (group) Kapa Haka, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) The Armory, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery Stand, New York, USA (group) Judy Darragh & Michael Parekowhai, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand (group) Noumea Biennial, Tibaou Centre, Noumea (group) Trafc, Crossing Currents in Indigenous Photomedia, Australian Centre for Old Worlds/New Worlds, Art Museum of Missoula, U.S.A (group) Photography, Sydney, Australia (group) Melbourne Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne, Australia (group) Pacifc Harbours, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand Flight patterns, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, U.S.A (group) (group) Simpson Grierson Season - works from the collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Opening Exhibition, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, Auckland, New Zealand (group) New Zealand (group) Wonderlands, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand (group) 9 Lives, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) 1999-2000 Indians and Cowboys, ( touring Gallery 4A, Sydney, Australia, Canberra Artspace, Patriot: Ten Guitars, touring exhibition (Ar (group) tspace, Auckland, New Zealand, Canberra, Australia) (group) Beyond the Future, The Third Asia-Pacifc Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Thompson, Frank, Paterson, Gimblett, Parekowhai, Gow Langsford Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, Govett-Brewster Gallery, Sydney, Australia (group) New Plymouth, New Zealand, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand) (solo) 2002 Beyond the Future: The Third Asia - Pacifc Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Michael Parekowhai, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney, Australia (solo) Brisbane, Australia (group) All there is / The Consolation of Philosophy: piko nei te matenga, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand (solo) 1999 Chartwell Collection: Recent Acquisitions, New Gallery, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Kitset Cultures, Djamu Gallery, The Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia (solo) Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Home and Away, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Pataka Art Museum, Pataka, New Zealand (group) Taonga Maori, Artstation, Auckland, New Zealand (group) (The World May Be) Fantastic, Biennale of Sydney, 2002, Sydney, Australia (group) The Promoter, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Katharina Grosse, Melinda Harper, Michael Parekowhai, Gow Langsford Gallery, Who Do I Think I Am, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Auckland, New Zealand (group) Wonderlands: views on life at the end of the century, at the end of the world, Govett - Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand (group) 2001-2002 All there is, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) 1998 Recent Paintings, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand (solo) 2001 Dream Collectors, Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, Patriot: Ten Guitars, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA (solo) Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) The Consolation of Philosophy: piko nei te matenga, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) 1997 Good Work, the Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection (touring Dunedin Public Art Recent Paintings, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand, City Gallery, Wellington, New Recent Paintings, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (solo) Zealand) Purangiaho: Seeing Clearly, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New 1996 Zealand The World Over / de wereld bollen: art in the age of globalisation, City Art Gallery, Techno Maori, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (group) Multistylus Programme, Recent Chartwell Acquisitions, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o “Here I give thanks”, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand (group) Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand Bright Paradise: the 1st Auckland Triennial, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New 1995 Zealand Cultural Safety, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, City Gallery, Prospect 2001,City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand Wellington, Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Frankfurter, Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany Let There Be Light, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Catalogue Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand The Nervous System, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand (group) 2000 Korurangi, New Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group) The Beverly Hills Gun Club, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) The Beverly Hills Gun Club / True Action Adventures of the Twentieth Century, 1994 Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand (solo) Kiss the Baby Goodbye, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand Language Matters, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) (solo) The Numbers Game, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Kiss the Baby Goodbye, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand (solo) Auckland Art Gallery,1998 A Capella, Gregory Flint Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (solo) Flight Patterns, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, U.S.A. 2000 Art Now, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand French, Blair, ‘Michael Parekowhai’, Reviews, Art Asia Pacifc, issue 26, p92 (group) Gibson, Jef,’ Third Asia-Pacifc Triennial of Contemporary Art’, Artforum Changing Signs, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) International, January 2000 Headlands: thinking through New Zealand art, Museum of Contemporary Art, 1993 Sydney, 1992 After McCahon, Cubism, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Headlands: thinking through New Zealand art, National Art Gallery, Wellington Shared Pleasures, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand Hewitson, Michele, ‘On the Wild Side’, NZ Herald, 19 June 2000 (group) Hit parade: contemporary art from the Paris Family Collection, Wellington, City Art International Festival of the Arts, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Gallery, 1992 Stop Making Sense, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Intra, Giovanni, ‘Being Brown, Making futes and Dying’, Stamp, #12, Auckland, New Zealand, 1990 1992 Jahnke, Robert, Korurangi, New Gallery, Auckland, 1995 Homemade Home, Wellington City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Judd, Craig, ‘Gwangju Biennale 2004: A Viewer-Participant Memoir’, Eyeline # 56, Vogue/Vague, CSA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand (group) Summer 2004/2005, pp18 - 20 Hit Parade: contemporary art from the Paris Family Collection, Wellington City Art Leonard, Robert, ‘Against Purity: three word sculptures by Michael Parekowhai’, Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) Art New Zealand, #59, Auckland, New Zealand, 1991, p52-54 W.A.R Whatu Aho Rua, Tandanya Gallery, Adelaide, Australia (group) Leonard, Robert, ‘Perverse Homage’s’, Planet,#13, Auckland, New Zealand, 1994 Headlands: thinking through New Zealand art, National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Leonard, Robert and Strongman, Lara, Kiss the Baby Goodbye, Govett-Brewster Zealand (group) Gallery, New Plymouth & Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Headlands: thinking through New Zealand art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zealand, 1994 Sydney, Australia (group) Leonard, Robert, Patriot, Catalogue, published by Gow Langsford Gallery and Artspace, Auckland, 1999 1991 Leonard, Robert, ‘ Michael Parekowhai: Ten Guitars’, Beyond the future: The Third Light Sensitive, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Asia Art Pacifc Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1999, p100-101 Cross-pollination, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) Linnell, Amanda, ‘Michael Parekowhai’, Being Maori – A Journal of Articles About The Maori Culture, p.9 – 10, 2005 1990 Localities of Desire, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, 1994 Kohia Ko Taikaka Anake, National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (group) McAloon, William, Vogue/Vague, CSA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1992 Choice!, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) McAloon, William, ‘Sixty Strings Slowly Strummed’, Sunday Star Times, 21 May Light’arted, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand (group) 2000 McNamara, T.J., ‘Plenty of fre power and a lot of serious questions’, NZ Herald,12 June 2000 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY McNamara, T.J., ‘First Shock Gives Way To Curiosity’, NZ Herald,pg.B6, NZ Herald, 3 August 2005 Amery, Mark, ‘Know Just Where You Are’, Review, Listener, 24 June 2000 Mane-Wheoki, Jonathan, ‘States of Flux: The Third Asia Pacifc Triennial of Barr, Jim & Mary, ‘The Indefnite Article’, Art Asia Pacifc 23, pp72-76 Contemporary Art’, Art New Zealand 93, Summer 1999-2000 Barton, Christina, Art Now, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Mason, Ngahiraka, Purangiaho Toku Mata, Purangiaho (Seeing Clearly), exhibition Wellington, New Zealand,1994, p9, 11, 66-67, 90 catalogue, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, 2001 Butler, Connie, ‘West of everything’ Parkett57, pp189-194 Mason, Ngahiraka, ‘The Bosom of Abraham, A recent Gallery acquisition’, Gallery Burke, Gregory, ‘Michael Parekowhai’, Review, Art & Text, No. 69, May - July 2000 News 04, Dec - Feb 1999-2000 Burke, Gregory, Cultural Safety, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt; City Gallery, Mendelssohn, Joanna, ‘New Views of New Zealand: two versions of isolation’, The Wellington, 1995 Bulletin, Auckland, New Zealand, 21 April 1992 Burke, Gregory, ‘Michael Parekowhai’, Home and Away: Contemporary Australian Page, Maud, Kitset Cultures, Catalogue, Djamu Gallery, Sydney, 1999 and New Zealand Art From the Chartwell Collection (ed. William McAloon) Panaho, Rangi, W.A.R.. Whatu Aho Rua, Tandanya Gallery, Adelaide, 1992 Cochrane-Simons, Susan, ‘Maori Custom is Worth Remembering’, Sydney Parekowhai, Michael, ‘page work’, Pavement 37, pp190-191 Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, 18 April 1992 Pound, Francis, Topographies, Flight Patterns, p130 Dale, Richard, ‘Reviews Third Asia-Pacifc Triennial of Contemporary Art’, Eyeline Paton, Justin, Special Agent, Michael Parekowhai’s Generous Duplicity, Art New 41, Summer 1999 / 2000 Zealand 103, Winter 2002 Dream Collectors, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, Paton, Justin (2002, May). Michael Parekowhai In Frieze, #67. p95 Rawlins, Jarrod, Flash Art, Vol. XXXVIII, #243, pg. 132 – 133, July / September 2005 Speden, Graeme, ‘Accent on Child’s Play’, New Zealand Herald, Auckland, New Zealand, 20 September 1993 Smith, Allan, “Michael Parekowhai: Kiss the Baby Goodbye”, Art New Zealand 72, Spring 1994, pp64-67 Smith, Alan, The Nervous System, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 1995 Stoney, Robin, Taonga Maori, Circa 91, cover and p63 Strongman, Lara, Shared Pleasures: The Chartwell Collection, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand, 1993 The world over / de wereld bollen: art in the age of globalisation, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; City Gallery, Wellington; 1996 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh USA. (2002). Michael Parekowhai. Exhibition Catalogue Watson, Ruth, “Indians and Cowboys: Now and Here” Indian and Cowboys, Gallery 4A, Asia Australia, Arts Centre, Sydney 2003 White, Margo, “Mike’s World” Metro, March 2004, pp54 - 61 Zepke, Stephen, ‘Diference without Binary oppositions. A chance for a Choice!’ Antic, #8, Auckland, New Zealand, 1992
SELECTED PUBLIC & PRIVATE COLLECTIONS Arario Museum, Cheonan, Seoul, Korea Musee du quai Branly, Paris, France Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia National Library Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand Jim Barr and Mary Barr Collection, Wellington, New Zealand Les and Milly Paris Collection, Wellington, New Zealand Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand Saatchi & Saatchi Collection, Wellington, New Zealand Sweeney and Vesty Collection, Wellington, New Zealand Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia Thanksgiving Trust, Auckland, New Zealand National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia Left: View of “Michael Parek¯owhai: Détour,” 2018, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. Scaffolding: Michael Parek¯owhai, Forest Etiquette, 2018. Counterclockwise, from top left: Michael Parek¯owhai, Standing on Memory, 2018; Colin McCahon, Northland Panels, 1958; Marcel Duchamp, Boîte-en-valise, 1961; Michael Parek¯owhai, Tiki Tour, 2018. Photo: Maarten Holl.
Right: Moon rock sample with presentation plaque and flag (detail), 1972, rock, wood, plastic, cloth, metal, overall 3 1 3 14 ⁄8 × 10 ⁄2 × 2 ⁄8".
1000 WORDS MICHAEL PAREKOWHAI¯ TALKS ABOUT HIS CURRENT EXHIBITION AT TE PAPA TONGAREWA, WELLINGTON
FOR EXACTLY TWO DECADES, New Zealand’s national of inadequate gallery space; the impulse to instrumen- museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, has tried to map the talize artworks in the service of wide-reaching cultural- country’s vexed bicultural history—a history that anthropological narratives; or the fact that, when it began with the first contact between Ma¯ori and comes to a New Zealand tourism industry built on Europeans and continues, to this day, in the complex pristine landscapes, good wine, nineteenth-century relationships between Ma¯ori and Pa¯keha¯ (New stereotypes of its indigenous culture, and the Lord of Zealanders of European descent). To accomplish this the Rings franchise, the country’s greatest art—which task, Te Papa followed a distinctly 1990s logic, doing so often complicates simplistic views of its culture— away with the separation between the national museum isn’t exactly a big visitor draw. and the national art collection, and—under the shame- Aware that its art exhibitions have long fallen lessly hopeful slogan “Our Place”—combining the short, Te Papa has created new galleries within the two institutions in one grand, self-consciously post- existing building, increasing the space allotted to the modern building, complete with the interactive, Ralph display of works by 35 percent. The institution also Appelbaum–designed displays of the kind that were invited Michael Pareko¯whai—one of the country’s endemic in museums during that era. Ever since, art most influential artists and a key figure in the evolution has played second fiddle at Te Papa, whether because of contemporary Ma¯ori art—to produce the inaugural
SUMMER 2018 265 Above: View of “Michael Parek¯owhai: Opposite page, top left: Michael Détour,” 2018, Te Papa Tongarewa, Parek¯owhai, Standing on Memory, Wellington. Photo: Sam Hartnett. 2018, fiberglass, automotive paint. Installation view, Te Papa Tongarewa, Left: Two of Theo Schoon’s studies Wellington. Photo: Sam Hartnett. of toi moko, dates unknown, graphite on paper. Installation view, Opposite page, top right: View Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, of “Michael Parek¯owhai: Détour,” 2018. Photo: Sam Hartnett. 2018, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. Scaffolding: Michael Parek¯owhai, Forest Etiquette, 2018. Center: Four untitled works by Theo Schoon, dates unknown. Background: Michael Parek¯owhai, Constable Plumb Bob, 2018. Photo: Sam Hartnett.
installation in the first of the new spaces. “Détour” In forcing Duchamp—and Te Papa’s history of ideo- I wanted to include artists who came out to the is his response, and it takes as its starting point one logically driven display—through a postcolonial filter, anti podes to find a better life, whether that was after of Te Papa’s greatest art treasures: a 1961 edition of Pareko¯whai crashes the Frenchman’s readymade insti- World War II or some hippie thing where they wanted Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise, the French artist’s tutional critique into the colonial legacies that museums to leave Europe and run around in the bush. I think famed portable museum containing miniature ver- like Te Papa are built on. “Détour” is both a celebration this desire to find a new home is an interesting posi- sions of his own works. of Te Papa’s renewed commitment to art and an excoria- tion. If we only played in our backyards by ourselves Pareko¯whai, long in thrall to Duchamp, has taken tion of its postmodern platitudes, which confuse plural- all the time and didn’t let others come in to see what Boîte-en-valise’s logic as a mobile exhibition frame ism with progress. “Our Place” has never really been we have, we’d lose sight of what is actually of value and blown it out to create his own temporary structure: so, and Pareko¯whai’s temporary takeover highlights the to us. That’s why I’ve included Theo Schoon, who Forest Etiquette, 2018, an enormous construction of museological myths and misrepresentations involved made so much work about the Ma¯ori art he encoun- scaffolding wrapped with transparent plastic trees. in trying to make everybody feel at home. tered here. His toi moko images push my own limits For the duration of his exhibition, this structure —Anthony Byrt of taste and what’s acceptable. It was OK at a certain becomes a provisional framework for several works point to preserve a Ma¯ori head, sell it, and then present from Te Papa’s collection: Duchamp’s museum; the WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH art school in the 1980s, it in a European museum as some sort of authentic, multipart painting Northland Panels, 1958, one of we had slides: crusty glass slides that would make a portable, “readymade” representation of a culture. Colin McCahon’s greatest works; a pair of poutoti, tra- thunking noise when they dropped into the machine. We That really tests me as an artist: What’s up for grabs? ditional Ma¯ori stilts; a painting by Frances Hodgkins; didn’t have the access to modern and contemporary art If I pushed it and displayed a real head, that’s all people and even a tiny piece of the moon, given to New that we do today thanks to the internet and the growth would talk about. So you have to dial it back: With Zealand by the Nixon administration in 1969 as a of the art world here. I feel like Duchamp taught us from Schoon’s drawings, I have the heads around, without commemoration of the Apollo 11 mission and a gentle afar. And our national museum has this incredible work; actually having them in the show. reminder of who, globally speaking, was boss. it’s like a portal through which you can understand con- When Te Papa first opened, in 1998, they showed Alongside these, Pareko¯whai has included art from his temporary art. So I based the show on Duchampian Colin McCahon’s Northland Panels. So it seemed fit- personal collection—such as artist Theo Schoon’s ideas: the idea of portability, the idea of the museum, ting that if I was going to be opening Te Papa’s new art drawings of preserved Ma¯ori heads, or toi moko—and and the idea of the gallery. Te Papa’s biggest struggle spaces, I would have that work front and center—not has mixed in his own works, too (all 2018), including has always been “How do we fit an art gallery into a just to remind people of the past, but also to suggest a full-scale fiberglass elephant that stands atop the national museum?” Perhaps it doesn’t fit; perhaps you there is a future. Because of how I’m presenting it, you trees, high above the ground; a Duchampian waist- actually need a different kind of space. So on the one can walk behind it. You can see the backs of the panels, coat bearing his own name on its buttons; and fiend- hand, my project acknowledges the shortcomings of where there are three more paintings, which McCahon ishly grinning fiberglass monkeys that visitors can sidle such institutions, but it also nods to Duchamp’s ability obviously thought weren’t good enough, but they’re up to on long park benches. to pack all his shit up in a suitcase and walk away. incredible. I thought letting viewers get behind
266 ARTFORUM Te Papa’s biggest struggle has always been “How do we fit McCahon’s iconic work to find this was a nice way to an art gallery into a national museum?” Perhaps it doesn’t fit; address the museum’s very beginning, its current posi- perhaps you actually need a different kind of space. tion, and to ask: Where to from here? Apart from that, Northland Panels is a fucking great landscape painting. The space I’ve built is also a landscape. The plastic trees were one of the most unnaturally natural things I could think of. I needed the structure to be clunky, mechanical, and representative of a “virtual” reality. It has a kind of Minecraft feel. That’s why the trees are transparent; for me, it creates the sense of a 3-D digital walk-through of an exhibition. I’m asking the audience—which is a Duchampian trick—to finish the work: “This thing is a tree. Do you believe me?” Being Ma¯ori, or a native of any space, comes with its own cultural weight, and this can pose challenges. I try to translate Ma¯ori ideas in a way that lets people take some of that on board, or just go, “Well, that’s a pretty sculpture.” Te Papa has some amazing Ma¯ori artifacts, but I’ve chosen a simple pair of poutoti, or stilts. The stilts are primarily for a kids’ game, made to raise your feet up—to raise your spirits, your intellect, to let you stand above the ground. They also relate to an ancient story of a Te Arawa chief who used poutoti to steal some breadfruit and then had to run away from the Pacific Islands, eventually arriving here. So they have this amazing connection to this tale of travel, of portability, and of being above the ground. When you peel back the layers of the show, there’s a whole lot View of “Michael Parek¯owhai: Détour,” 2018, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. Scaffolding: Michael Parek¯owhai, Forest Etiquette, 2018. going on, not about individual identity, but about how Background: Colin McCahon, Northland Panels, 1958. Foreground: Michael Parek¯owhai, Constable Plumb Bob, 2018. Photo: Sam Hartnett. we got here, who we are, and where we’re going.
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Anthony Byrt / Michael Parekowhai, Artforum, Summer 2018
Anthony Byrt, “Rainbow Warrior,” Metro, March/April 2018
Priscilla Pitts, “Caution: Artist at Play,” Art New Zealand, Spring 2018
Lana Lopesi, “An Homage, a Beacon: on Michael Parekowhai’s ‘The Lighthouse’,” The Pantograph Punch, February 2017
Anthony Byrt, “House Rules,” Paperboy, February 2017
Peter Hill, “Playing it Forward,” Vault, February 2016