The Fourth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

RALPH HOTERE Increasingly, sheets of corrugated iron became a central part of Hotere's studio materials and matched the scarred wood with its brute, quotidian qualities. He splattered and poured white paint down the undulations like heavy rainwater on iron roofs. Suggesting a smelter's fires, the artist blowtorched his iconic marks onto aluminium in some works, leaving rainbow– like traces.The artist's focus upon threats to the natural world (more specifically the Otago Peninsula) came to a head with his majestic Black phoenix installation, which was constructed from the charred planks of a burnt-out fishing boat and first shown in 1985. This installation has led to others, expressly with Bill Culbert, albeit with a cooler aesthetic at play. A near contemporary of Hotere's, Culbert was originally from Port Chalmers but for most of his life has been based in England and France, earning high recognition for his work there. Maori and Pakeha partnered together, these artists have produced a number of visual statements that privilege neither practitioner. In 1991, PR.O.P (a title indicating a sideways nod to minimalist Richard Serra) sat low, leaning against the length of a large gallery wall. It comprised a huge, black-enamelled undulating field of corrugated iron punctuated at precise intervals with white illuminated neon tubes.The same year Pathway to the sea -Aramoana 1991 appeared in the 'Headlands: Thinking through New Zealand Art' exhibition - the first international show marking the opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. 9 Neon tubes set end to end by Culbert along the length of the floor sat parallel to a line of paua shells, cut through to expose a 'river' of iridescent blues and greens. A large rock initiated their passage. Thus the natural world could be seen to coexist with the fabricated, cosmopolitan environment. One commentator observed, 'The working drawings of both Hotere and Culbert include a line from the poetry of John Caselberg: "there is a rock which guards every sacred harbour in New Zealand. It but waits its hour . .. '". 10 Both Hotere and Culbert tap the spiritual in commonplace materials. Hotere recognises honourable scars (like the Spanish artist Antoni Tapies) and the importance of moving the 'sign' into the status of 'symbol' for today's audiences; Culbert uses light from domestic and industrial conduits to irradiate darkness. Their respective works have a profound humanity and grace.Their very friendship and close working liaison speaks about the relationship between peoples and ideologies, the coexistence, the mutuality, the pull of homeland. Ralph Hotere w ith Bill Culbert, collaborating artist United Kingdom/Aotearoa New Zealand b.1935 Pathway to the sea -Aramoana 1991 Paua shells, fluorescent tubes, rocks 3040 x 117 x 34cm (installation size varies) Collection: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington For the exhibition 'Toi Toi Toi' curated in 2000 by Rene Block at the Museum Fridericianum in Kassel, Hotere and Culbert conceived Black water 1999, again examining the phenomenon of light on corrugated iron. 11 Here, the rippled iron sheets were laid horizontal, close to the floor with neon tubes projecting upwards from them like beacons reflecting on the black. Around the time this installation occurred, Hotere was independently working on large black-lacquered statements that used the white wall behind as an integral component. Round midnight II 2000 typifies this development, with the three panels illusionistically bonded together by the white shapes between - made into cruciforms by simply cutting and rolling back a portion of the metal into a horizontal line. With an economy of means and a kaupapa 12 unwavering in its intensity and purpose, Ralph Hotere continues to awe and instruct through the uniformity and grandeur of his work. Anne Kirker is Head of International Art at the Queensland Art Gallery. 57