ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Pasifika art icon Fatu Feu’u.
Kiwi/samoan painter and sculptor Fatu Feu’u has done more than any other contemporary Pacific artist to turn the world’s attention to art from the region.
Born in the village of Poutasi, Samoa, his paintings, prints, bronze and wooden sculptures and ceramics are held in collections around the world, and he was the first Pacific artist to win the James Wallace Art Award and the New Zealand Order of Merit for his achievements in art. He’s also been an important mentor to a generation of Pacific artists, nurturing and encouraging their talents.
Despite the respect that he so obviously commands, Fatu himself is endearingly selfeffacing about the ‘father of modern Pasifika art’ title by which he is widely known. “They call me that, but I had nothing to do with it!
I go along with it and I say thank you. We have more Pacific artists here in New Zealand than any other place in the world. I can only say thank you NZ for accepting us here, because now we can work hard on our art-making and make a good contribution to the art scene.”
For the past 12 years, Fatu’s contribution has involved telling important stories.
“Things to do with climate change, youth suicide. The other issue I was involved with was the Kermadecs, trying to get it turned into a sanctuary. We can mess up the food chain very easily by overfishing in those areas.”
Other themes are community, people, relationships – “respect for one another, especially young people to respect their elders. To respect our environment, whatever is left of it. I’m also trying to tell stories that relate to my own childhood, being Polynesian. The village coconut farms, etc.”
Fatu holds two Samoan chiefly titles: ali’i (a sacred chief, genealogically linked to the gods) and tulafale (a secular chief, an orator and chosen adviser of the ali’i). He feels a duty to use his art to both honour his cultural roots and to comment on issues that concern him – not just as a Pasifika authority figure but also, you get the sense from talking to him, as a human being. His reflections are woven into his work, in which he uses tapa or bark cloth designs that refer to his ancestry.
Fatu’s work is big, bold, colourful and rich with Samoan motifs and symbolism. A theme he keeps coming back to is ‘Rainforest’.
“I use the images of spiritual masks to bring to the people’s attention that they should meditate, pray, and do something about the rainforests, before they change to an Easter Island landscape, where there are no trees, just rocks and dry soil. I hope they listen,” he said of a 2017 exhibition.
Last October he revisited this theme with a show at Artis Gallery in Parnell, Auckland. (He joined forces with Specsavers to raise money for The Fred Hollows Foundation New Zealand; Specsavers’ limited-edition frames feature imagery from the ‘Rainforest’ series).
A common motif is the fish, sometimes kissing “trying to have a relationship with another fish”. It’s an obvious Pacific symbol, and also references Fatu’s environmental concerns, but he uses it in other ways too. In his colossal and striking piece, Amuia, some of the fish have no tails.
“It’s about [young people] losing direction. It’s not their fault; they’ve been born into this time, with communication through cellphones, computers, social media. Since I was working on the zero suicide series a couple of years ago, I try talking to my own children every second day, telling them it’s okay to be where they are but they have to reach out when they need help. A lot of young people are lost in this world. They try to reach out but unfortunately a lot of their friends are in the same boat. And things disrupt their communication with the people they love the most.”
The mask motif also shows up again and again. “Some of the mask motifs and symbols I use go back into early Polynesia, 4000 years ago. I am trying to say to young people that we need to make use of the knowledge of those ancient ancestors about the food chain, planting things, conserving for the future.”
Many have noted the similarity between Fatu’s masks and those that crop up in the work of Picasso. Fatu chuckles. “Some people say my art looks like Picasso. But I say, ‘No, Picasso’s masks look like my masks!’ He uses a lot of Pacific iconography, he was very aware of indigenous art. I’ve never come across any acknowledgement from Picasso that he got his inspiration from those sources yet there are photographs of sculptures from the Pacific in his studio showing he got his ideas from there. In contrast, the great Jackson Pollock told everyone he got his inspiration from indigenous paintings. I was very happy about that.”
The featured wall hanging is Fa’a Ola (Rainforest Series); acrylic on canvas, 1450 x 1800mm) 2020